H! 


HISTORICAL  SKETCHES  OF  THE 
ANCIENT  NEGRO 

A  Compilation 


BY 


EDWARD  E.  CARLISLE 
JOSEPHINE   E.  CARLISLE 


Boston,  Mass. 


THE    COSMOS   PRESS 
Cambridge,  Mass. 


0   ^-        v 


COPYRIGHT,  1920 

BY 
JOSEPHINE  E.  CARLISLE 


PREFACE 

We  have  endeavored  to  present  to  our  readers  a 
selected  collection  of  historical  facts  in  one  volume  on  the 
Ethiopian  or  Ancient  Negro.  It  has  long  since  been  con- 
ceded that  Negro  nations  or  Hamites  were  the  earliest 
civilized  peoples  and  the  real  source  of  the  civilization  we 
enjoy  to-day.  More  and  more  are  we  made  cognizant 
of  the  fact  that  men  to-day  are  but  doing  over  the  things 
that  were  done  thousands  of  years  ago  and  it  is  inter- 
esting to  note  that  the  Negro's  share  in  those  early 
activities  was  not  a  small  one.  It  is  to  familiarize  the 
youth  as  well  as  the  adult  of  the  Negro  race  with  the 
events  in  which  many  of  their  ancestors  centered  that  it 
may  be  an  incentive  to  higher  aims  and  nobler  aspira- 
tions. 

"Now  our  day  is  come,"  says  one  writer,  "we  have 
been  born  out  of  the  eternal  silence;  and  now  we  will 
live  for  ourselves  and  not  as  the  pall  bearers  of  a 
funeral.  Now  that  we  are  here  we  will  put  our  own 
interpretation  on  things  and  our  own  things  for  inter- 
pretation." This  has  been  our  chief  aim  in  compiling 
this  work  —  to  interpret  the  Negro's  status  in  the  ancient 
world  unbiased  and  impartial  —  to  emphasize  his  identity 
in  the  midst  of  the  Caucasian  chaos  in  which  most  histori- 
ans have  placed  him  —  only  as  a  hewer  of  stone  and  drawer 
of  water  is  he  in  bold  relief.  Our  own  interpretation 
has  preserved  to  us,  however,  many  glowing  accounts 
of  the  deeds  of  black  men  with  which  every  one  of  African 
descent  should  be  familiar  and  justly  proud.  J.  E.  C. 


CONTENTS. 
I. 

The  Dispersion  of  the  Human  Family  with  reference  to 
the  children  of  Ham  the  Progenitor  of  the  Negro  race. 
Nimrod  the  grandson  of  Ham  (the  Negro)  the  first  ruler 
and  landed  proprietor  that  history  records,  Cushites  and 
Canaanites,  Negroes  of  antiquity. 

II. 

Meroe  the  Ethiopian  Capital. 
The  State  of  Meroe. 
The  Commerce  of  Meroe. 

III. 

Ethiopian  (or  Negro)  Supremacy,  Piankhi  the  great 
Negro  Pharaoh,  Amenardis  his  wife  and  queen  mother  of 
Tirharka  the  formidable  foe  of  Sennacherib  —  Shabaka 
brother  of  Piankhi  —  Shabataka  and  Tanut-Amon, 
successive  Ethiopian  Pharaohs. 

IV. 

Macrobian  Ethiopians  (Negroes)  and  Cambyses 
attempt  to  make  war  upon  them. 

V. 

Negro-Egyptian  Pharaohs. 

New  Empire  —  XVII,  Theban  Dynasty,  Amenophites 
and  Thotmesites,  Nefert-ari-Aahmes  —  the  black  queen 
ancestress  of  the  line  of  kings  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty, 
Amenhotep  I,  Thotmes  I  and  his  sister- wife  Aahmes 


and  their  children  Hashep  and  Hatasu.  Thotmes  II 
and  Thotmes  III,  Amenophis  II,  Thotmes  IV,  Amenophis 
III  (Mimnon),  Amenophis  IV. 

VI. 

How   Moses  made  war  upon  the  Ethiopians.     His 
marriage  with  the  Ethiopian  Princess  Tharbis. 

VII. 

How  Moses  fled  out  of  Egypt  into  Midian.     He  mar- 
ries Zipporah  an  Ethiopian  woman. 

VIII. 

Moses  receives  Jethro,  his  father-in-law  —  the  black 
priest  of  Midian  who  organized  the  first  court  of  equity. 

IX. 

THE  QUEEN  OF  SHEBA. 

X. 

Carthage. 

Hamilcar,  Hannibal,   Hasdrubal,  The    Punic    Wars, 
Hannibals  Treaty. 

XI. 

Septimus  Severeus,  Negro  Emperor  of  Rome.     His 
Sons,  Geta  and  Caracalla. 


Earth  had  mighty  dark  hued  heroes 

In  the  morning  of  the  world 
Giant  warriors  clad  in  lightning 

Who  their  bold  defiance  hurled 
High  as  heaven  and  down  the  ages: 

Nimrod  Seti,  Rameses, 
Hannibal  —  bold  lions  rampant 

Romping  through  dawn's  amethyst — 
Bronzed  Nemeans,  leaping  storming 

Down  the  morning's  amber  mist! 


Rise,  forgotten  Past!  Meroe 

Where  great  Moses  loved  arise! 
Tyre  Thebes  Nineveh  we  knew  you 

When  the  world  was  paradise! 
Sphinxes,  pyramids,  silent  Memnon 

Ruined  Memphis  —  Babylon, 
Relics  of  great  deeds  and  empires 

Of  the  proud,  dark  peoples  gone, 
We  your  clay  creators  loved  you 

In  the  clanging  purple  dawn. 

Rev.  Dr.  Jas.  D.  Corrothers. 


THE  DISPERSION  OF  THE  HUMAN  FAMILY. 

After  the  deluge  the  earth  was  divided  between  the 
three  sons  of  Noah,  Japhet,  Shem  and  Ham.  The 
peoples  connected  with  Japhet  occupy  the  northern 
portion  of  the  known  wofld  and  include  the  Madai 
(Medes)  on  the  East  of  Assyria,  Javans,  lonians,  i.  e. 
Greeks,  on  the  West  Coast  of  Asia  Minor  and  Tarshish 
(Tartessus)  on  the  West  Coast  of  Spain. 

Shem  is  the  ancestor  of  several  peoples,  occupying 
roughly  speaking,  the  central  portion  of  the  known 
world.  Shem  stands  for  a  people  in  Palestine  or  some 
portion  of  them  with  whom  Japhet  lived  in  close  con- 
junction and  to  whom  Canaan  was  subjugated.1 

Ham's  descendants  were  alloted  the  southern  portion 
and  possessed  the  land  from  Syria  and  Amans  and  the 
mountains  of  Libanus  seizing  upon  all  that  was  on  its 
seacoasts  and  as  far  as  the  ocean,  and  keeping  it  as  their 
own.  (Josephus.) 

"According  to  Armenian  tradition  to  Ham  was  given 
the  region  of  the  blacks,  to  Shem  the  region  of  the 
tawny,  fuscorum  and  to  Japhet  the  region  of  the  ruddy, 
rubrorum.  To  the  sons  of  Shem  was  allotted  the  middle 
of  the  earth,  viz.  —  Palestine,  Syria,  Assyria,  Samaria, 
Singar  (or  Shinar),  Babel  (or  Babylonia),  Persia  and 
Higiaz  (Arabia) ;  to  the  sons  of  Ham  Tiemen  or  Idumea 
(Jer.  49:7)  Africa,  Nigritia,  Egypt,  Nubia,  Ethiopia, 
Scindia  and  India  (or  India  west  and  east  of  the  river 

«A.  H.M'Neil.  Bib.  Diet. 


8  CARLISLE 

Indus) ;  to  the  sons  of  Japhet  also,  Garbia  (the  north), 
Spain,  France,  the  the  countries  of  the  Greeks,  Scla- 
vonians,  Bulgarians,  Turks  and  Armenians."1 

Ham,  or  Cham,  son  of  Noah  and  brother  to  Shem 
and  Japhet  is  believed  to  be  Noah's  youngest  son. 
Ham,  says  Dr.  Hales,  signifies  burnt  or  black  and  this 
name  was  peculiarly  significant  of  the  regions  allotted 
to  his  family.  To  the  Cushites,  or  children  of  his  eldest 
son  Cush  were  allotted  the  hot  southern  regions  of  Asia 
along  the  coasts  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  Suisiana,  Chusistan 
Arabia,  etc.;  to  the  sons  Canaan,  Palestine  and  Syria; 
to  the  sons  of  Mizraim  Egypt  and  Lybia  Libya  in  Africa.2 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

The  first  and  most  celebrated  of  Ham's  sons  was 
Cush  who  gave  name  to  the  land  of  Cush  both  in  Asia 
and  Africa,  the  former  called  Chusistan  by  the  Arabian 
Geographers,  Suisiana  by  the  Greeks,  Cusha  Dwipa 
within  by  the  Hindus,  the  other  Cusha  Dwipa  without. 

The  posterity  of  Cush  spread  over  a  great  part  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  were  called  Cushim  or  Cushites  by 
the  Greeks  and  Romans  and  in  our  Bible  Ethiopians. 
They  first  settled  on  the  Gulf  of  Persia,  spread  over 
India  and  Arabia,  particularly  its  western  part  on  the 
Red  Sea,  invaded  Egypt  under  the  name  of  Hyksos  or 
Shepherd  kings  and  after  ruling  Egypt  for  five  centuries 
passed  into  Central  Africa  and  first  peopled  the  countries 

1  Fessenden  &  Go's.  Ency. 

2  Watson,  Fessenden  &  Go's.  Ency. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  9 

south  of  Egypt,  Nubia,  Abyssinian  and  other  countries 
farther  south.1 

And  Cush  begat  Nimrod  "he  began  to  be  mighty 
hunter  in  the  earth."  (Gen.)  and  the  most  conspicuous 
Negro  character  of  early  antiquity.  He  was  the  indirect 
cause  of  the  dispersion  of  mankind  over  the  earth,  being 
one  of  the  first  examples  of  God's  use  of  man  as  an  agent 
in  carrying  out  the  divine  purpose.  Having  great 
influence  over  the  people,  he  suggested  the  building  of  a 
tower  that  should  reach  to  heaven  and  make  them  a 
name  and  also  serve  as  a  refuge  should  there  be  another 
flood.  To  this  the  people  readily  agreed  and  proceeded 
to  carry  out  Nimrod's  rebellious  plans,  but  were  suddenly 
confused,  not  being  able  to  understand  one  another,  and 
the  tower,  called  Babel  (confusion)  was  abandoned.  God 
punished  them  in  this  way  because  they  had  been  drawn 
away  from  their  allegiance  to  Him. 

He  may  be  styled  the  parent  of  organized  human 
society.  "He,  Nimrod,  first  subverted  the  patriarchal 
government  and  introduced  the  Zabian  idolatry  or  wor- 
ship of  the  heavenly  host;  and  after  his  death,  was 
deified  by  his  subjects,  and  supposed  to  be  translated 
into  the  constellations  of  Orion  attended  by  his  hounds 
Sirius  and  Canicular,  and  still  pursuing  his  favorite 
game,  the  great  bear."2 

Nimrod  was  a  despot  and  ruled  tyrannically  but  we 
can  hardly  conceive  of  any  other  form  of  government 
being  adequate  for  the  horde  with  which  he  had  to  con- 
tend, beset  with  doubts  and  fears.  That  Nimrod  did 

i  Fessenden  &  Go's.  Ency. 

1  Watson,  Fessenden  &  Go's.  Ency. 


IO  CARLISLE 

not  follow  his  kindred,  but  remained  in  the  land  of 
Shinar,  a  usurper,  but  tends  to  show  that  God  had  work 
to  be  done  and  had  chosen  whom  he  thought  best  fitted 
to  perform  it.  From  Nimrod  we  trace  the  Asiatic 
Ethiopians  and  those  of  India. 

Canaan  the  fourth  son  of  Ham  settled  what  was 
known  in  patriarchal  ages  as  India  and  called  it  from 
his  own  name  Canaan.  The  posterity  of  Canaan  was 
numerous.  His  eldest  son  Sidon  founded  the  city  of 
Sidon  and  was  father  of  the  Sidonians  and  Phoenicians 
notwithstanding  the  curse  (Gen.  9:25)  is  directed  against 
Canaan  the  son  and  not  against  the  father,  it  is  often 
supposed  that  all  the  posterity  of  Ham  were  placed 
under  this  maladiction,  "Cursed  be  Canaan  a  servant  of 
servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren."  But  the  true 
reason  why  Canaan  only  was  mentioned  probably  is 
that  the  curse  was  in  fact  restricted  to  the  posterity  of 
Canaan.  It  is  true  that  many  Africans  of  other  branches 
of  Hani's  family  have  been  cruelly  enslaved;  but  so  have 
other  tribes  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  There  is 
certainly  no  proof  that  the  Negro  race  was  placed  under 
this  malediction. 

Whatever  punishment  the  Canaanites  received  was 
due  to  their  disobedience  and  sins.  "Joshua  extir- 
pated great  numbers  and  obliged  the  rest  to  fly,  some 
of  them  into  Africa,  and  others  into  Greece.  Proco- 
pius  says,  they  first  retreated  into  Egypt,  but  advanced 
into  Africa  where  they  built  many  cities,  and  spread 
themselves  over  these  vast  regions  which  reach  to  the 
straits,  preserving  their  old  language  with  little  altera- 
tion. In  the  time  of  Athanasius,  (296)  the  Africans  still 
said  they  were  descended  from  the  Canaanites;  and 
when  asked  their  origin,  they  answered,  "Canaani." 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  II 

It  is  agreed  that  the  Punic  tongue  was  nearly  the  same 
as  the  Canaanitish  or  Hebrew.1 

Now  all  the  children  of  Mizraim,  being  eight  in  num- 
ber, possessed  the  land  from  Gaza  to  Egypt  though  it 
retained  the  name  of  one  only,  the  Philistim,  for  the 
Greeks  called  part  of  that  country  Palestine.  As  for 
the  rest  we  know  nothing  of  them  besides  their  names; 
for  the  Ethiopic  war  caused  those  cities  to  be  overthrown. 
Phut  was  the  founder  of  Libya  and  called  the  inhabitants 
Phutites  from  himself.  (Josephus.) 

Thus  we  see  that  many  centuries  of  time  elapsed  be- 
fore these  peoples  arrived  at  fixed  or  final  places  of  abode 
from  a  geographical  point  of  view.  The  children  of 
Ham  were  the  leading  people  at  this  early  period. 
'Their  early  possession  of  the  seacoasts  made  them  a 
seafaring  race  and  early  established  commercial  inter- 
course between  them,  thus  enabling  them  to  sooner 
arrive  at  civilization  and  the  luxuries  of  life  than  their 
simpler  pastoral  brethren  of  the  other  two  families. 
Tyre,  Sidon  and  Carthage  were  early  distinguished  for 
their  commerce,  but  the  sooner  fell  into  decay.' 


STATE  or  MERGE. 

Let  the  mighty  men  come  forth;   the  Ethiopians  that  handle  the 
shield.  -Jer.    XLVI,   9. 

The  Ethiopians  were  a  civilized  people  who  dwelt 
in  cities;  —  who  erected  temples  and  other  edifices; 
who  though  without  letters,  had  hieroglyphics;  who 
had  government  and  laws;  and  the  fame  of  whose 

>  Watson,  Fessenden  &  Go's.  Ency. 


1 2  CARLISLE 

progress  in  knowledge  and  the  social  arts  spread  in  the 
earliest  ages  over  a  considerable  part   of  the   earth. 

Meroe  the  mother  city  and  capital  of  all  Ethiopia 
has  been  celebrated  for  upwards  of  two  thousand  years, 
but  its  distant  situation  has  always  involved  it  in  mys- 
tery and  obscurity.  It  was  brought  to  light  by  Burk- 
hardt  and  Caillaud.  Meroe,  however,  did  not  appear 
alone;  a  new  world  of  antiquities  was  laid  open  to  the 
view  of  the  astonished  spectator. 

The  southern  boundary  of  Egypt  and  the  last  cataract 
of  the  Nile  had  hitherto  been  considered  the  utmost 
verge  of  civilization  and  science.  More  distant  regions 
were  now  explored.  The  more  early  travellers  Bruce 
and  his  forerunners  first  led  the  way  by  crossing  the 
Nubian  desert,  others  soon  followed  who  penetrated  up 
the  Nile,  keeping  near  its  banks,  where  they  discovered 
that  succession  of  monuments  which  has  excited  so 
much  astonishment  among  all  lovers  of  antiquity  as 
well  by  their  numbers  as  their  magnitude.  Temple 
after  temple  appeared,  sometimes  erected  upon,  at  others 
excavated  in  the  rocks  and  the  earth;  scarcely  had  the 
traveller  left  one  than  another  arose  to  his  view. 
Colossal  figures  buried  up  to  their  shoulders  in  sand  still 
towered  above  all  these  which  lay  concealed  behind 
them.  As  the  travellers  continued  their  journey  an 
immense  number  of  pyramids  appeared  with  temples 
and  ruins  of  cities  close  by  or  intermingled  with  them 
and  at  last  the  distant  Meroe  itself  and  the  ancient 
temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon  still  erect  and  majestic  in  its 
ruins. 

The  valley  of  the  Nile  was  once  covered  on  both  sides 
with  villages  of  which  Pliny  has  left  us  the  names  and 
only  the  names  of  twenty  on  each  side;  in  his  time  they 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  13 

no  longer  existed  and  he  informs  us  that  they  were  not 
destroyed  by  Roman  wars,  but  by  the  earlier  contentions 
between  Ethiopia  and  Egypt.  (Heeren). 

Meroe  is  of  special  interest  as  the  royal  city  of  Ethio- 
pia. Here  the  Ethiopian  or  Negro  kings  and  princes 
first  saw  the  light  of  day  and  among  them  and  their 
subjects  the  first  seeds  of  civilization  took  root.  All 
the  early  royal  personages  of  which  we  have  any  record 
resided  at  Meroe.  In  the  eighth  century,  B.  C.  Napata 
was  the  capital  —  "a  city  of  great  wealth,  filled  with 
costly  stone  temples,  avenues  of  sphinxes  adorned  the 
approaches  to  these  sacred  edifices. 

This  is  the  period  in  which  the  three  mighty  con- 
querors, Sabaco,  Sevechus  and  Tirharkah  directed  their 
weapons  against  Egypt. 


COMMERCE  OF  MEROE. 
ETHIOPIANS.    II. 

"As  one  passes  beyond  the  land  of  the  midday  the  Ethiopian  land 
is  that  which  extends  furthest  of  all  lands  towards  the  sunset.  This 
produces  gold  in  abundance  and  large  elephants  and  trees  of  all 
kinds  growing  wild  and  ebony  and  men  who  of  all  men  are  the  tallest 
the  most  beautiful  and  ttie  most  long  lived."  (Herodotus.) 

The  Ethiopians  were  the  most  noted  people  of  early 
antiquity.  ("They  were  a  civilized  people  who  dwelt 
in  cities,  who  erected  temples  and  other  edifices,  who, 
though  without  letters,  had  hieroglyphics,  who  had 
government  and  laws  and  the  fame  of  whose  progress  in 
knowledge  and  the  social  arts  spread  in  the  earliest  ages 
over  a  considerable  part  of  the  earth.")  From  the 
remotest  times  to  the  present  one  of  the  most  celebrated 


14  CARLISLE 

yet  mysterious  of  nations.  In  the  earliest  traditions  of 
all  the  more  civilized  nations  of  antiquity  the  name  of 
this  distant  people  is  found.  The  annals  of  the  Egyp- 
tian priests  were  full  of  them;  the  nations  of  inner 
Asia  on  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  have  interwoven  the 
fictions  of  the  Ethiopians  with  their  own  traditions  of 
the  conquests  and  wars  of  their  heroes,  and  at  a  period 
equally  remote  they  glimmer  in  Greek  mythology. 
When  the  Greeks  scarcely  knew  Italy  and  Sicily  by 
name  the  Ethiopians  were  celebrated  in  the  verses  of 
their  poets.  "They  are  the  remotest  nation,  the  most 
just  of  men,  the  favorites  of  the  gods.  The  lofty  inhabi- 
tants of  Olympus  journey  to  them  and  take  part  in  their 
feasts.  Their  sacrifices  are  the  most  agreeable  of  all 
that  mortals  can  offer  them  "  and  when  the  faint  gleam 
of  tradition  gives  way  to  the  clear  light  of  history,  the 
lustre  of  the  Ethiopian  is  not  diminished.  They  still 
continue  the  object  of  curiosity  and  admiration,  and  the 
pen  of  cautious  clear  sighted  historians  often  places 
them  in  the  highest  rank  of  knowledge  and  civilization.1 

In  Scripture  they  occupy  a  prominent  place. 
Zipporah,  the  wife  of  Moses,  the  illustrious  lawgiver, 
was  an  Ethiopian  and  prior  to  his  flight  into  Midian 
Moses  married  Tharbis,  an  Ethiopian  princess.  Queen 
Candace,  whose  eunuch  Phillip  baptized,  was  an  Ethi- 
opian and  not  the  only  Ethiopian  queen  by  that  name, 
the  title  being  used  in  the  same  way  as  Pharaoh  for  the 
ruler  of  Egypt  and  Caesar  for  Rome.  Ebed-Melech, 
who  rescued  the  prophet  Jeremiah  from  the  pit  prison 
was  an  Ethiopian  enunch.  The  Ethiopian  Zerah  who 
went  out  to  meet  Asa  with  a  host  of  a  thousand  thous- 

1  Heeren  p.  290. 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  1$ 

and  men  and  three  hundred  chariots  was  so  formidable 
a  general  that  special  divine  favor  alone  saved  Asa  from 
inglorious  defeat.  Solomon's  renowned  visitor,  Makeda, 
queen  of  Sheba,  was  an  Ethiopian  sovereign.  Tirharkah, 
the  mere  rumor  of  whose  coming  caused  Sennacherib 
and  his  army  to  flee  from  their  already  fortified  posi- 
tions was  one  of  the  greatest  Ethiopian  conquerors  and 
rulers  of  antiquity,  second  only  to  his  father,  Piankhi, 
the  Negro  Pharaoh  who  subdued  all  Egypt  and  whose 
reign  was  the  beginning  of  Ethiopian  supremacy.  The 
foregoing  is  but  a  hint  of  the  Negro's  illustrious  ancestry 
upon  which  modern  research  is  shedding  new  light 
every  day.  He  not  only  bore  the  cross  but  wore  a  crown. 
All  true  Christians  are  cross-bearers  in  a  religious  sense 
but  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  we  must  be  burden 
bearers  for  our  brethren  —  such  a  theory  belongs  to  the 
pessimist.  To  bear  the  cross  of  Christ  is  a  signal  honor 
and  privilege  which  could  in  nowise  bring  misery  to  a 
people.  We  have  confounded  the  crosses  placed  upon 
us  by  our  more  fortunate  brethren  with  that  borne  by 
Simon  the  Cyrenian.  We  have  thus  submitted  uncom- 
plainingly to  an  unnatural  burden. 

This  view,  however,  has  been  ably  sustained  by  many 
learned  men  notably  among  them  Prof.  Heeren,  whose 
inferences  seem  most  logical  and  whom  we  shall  quote 
at  length. 

COMMERCE  OF  MEROE. 

In  proportion  as  we  ascend  into  the  primeval  ages, 
the  closer  seems  the  connection  between  Egypt  and 
Ethiopia.  The  Hebrew  poets  seldom  mention  the 
former  without  the  latter;  the  inhabitants  of  both  are 
drawn  as  commercial  nations.  When  Isaiah,  or  rather 


1 6  CARLISLE 

a  later  poet  in  his  name,  celebrates  the  victories  of 
Cyrus,  their  submission  is  spoken  of  as  his  most  magnifi- 
cent reward.  ''The  trade  of  the  Egyptians  and  the 
merchandise  of  the  Ethiopians,  and  of  the  tall  men  of 
Saba  will  come  over  to  thee  and  become  thine  own." 
When  Jeremiah  extols  the  great  victory  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar over  Pharaoh  Neco  near  Carchemish,  the  Ethi- 
opians are  allied  to  the  Egyptians.  When  Ezekiel 
threatens  the  downfall  of  Egypt,  the  remotest  parts  of 
Ethiopia  tremble  at  the  denunciation. 

Every  page  indeed  of  Egyptian  history  exhibits 
proofs  of  the  close  intimacy  in  which  they  stood.  The 
primitive  states  of  Egypt  ....  derived  their  origin  from 
these  remote  regions. 

Thebes  and  Meroe  founded  in  common  a  colony  in 
Libya.  Ethiopian  conquerors  more  than  once  invaded 
Egypt.  Egyptian  kings  in  return  forced  their  way  into 
Ethiopia,  the  same  worship,  the  same  manners  and  cus- 
toms, the  same  mode  of  writing  are  found  in  both  coun- 
tries; and  under  Psammatichus  the  noble  and  numerous 
party  of  malcontents  retired  into  Ethiopia.  Does  not 
this  intimate  connection  presuppose  a  permanent  alliance 
which  could  only  have  been  formed  and  maintained  by  a 
long  peacable  and  friendly  intercourse? 

Egypt  also,  as  far  as  history  reaches  back,  abounded 
in  all  the  commodities  of  the  southern  regions.  Whence 
did  she  obtain  the  spices  and  drugs  with  which  so  many 
thousand  of  her  dead  were  embalmed?  Whence  the 
incense  which  burned  on  her  altars?  Whence  that 
immense  quantity  of  cotton  in  which  her  inhabitants 
were  clad  and  which  her  own  soil  produced  so  sparingly? 

Further,  whence  came  into  Egypt  that  early  rumor 
of  the  Ethiopian  gold  countries,  which  Cambyses  set 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  17 

out  to  discover  and  lost  half  his  army  in  the  attempt? 
Whence  that  profusion  of  ivory  and  ebony  with  which 
the  ancient  artists  of  Greece  and  Palestine  embellished? 
Whence  that  general  and  early  spread  of  the  name  of 
Ethiopia  which  glimmers  in  the  traditional  history  of 
so  many  nations,  and  which  is  celebrated  as  well  by  the 
Jewish  poets  as  the  earliest  Grecian  bards?  Whence 
all  this  if  the  deserts  which  surrounded  that  people  had 
formed  an  impassible  barrier  between  them  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  northern  district?  Yet  why  should 
I  invoke  the  traditions  that  have  so  long  slept?  Let 
the  remains  of  those  proud  monuments  which  extend 
in  one  unbroken  line  from  Elephantis  and  Philae  be- 
yond the  desert  to  Meroe  now  speak  for  themselves. 
However  short  and  monosyllabic  their  language,  they 
plainly  evince  that  close  connection  must  have  pre- 
vailed between  the  two  nations  that  erected  them,  a 
connection  between  the  richest  and  most  productive 
regions  of  the  earth;  the  gold  countries  of  eastern  Africa, 
the  spice  regions  of  India  and  the  native  land  of  frankin- 
cense, precious  stones  and  drugs  in  Southern  Arabia. 

THE  RELATION  IN  WHICH  COMMERCE  STOOD  IN  THESE 
REGIONS  WITH  RELIGION. 

Commerce  and  religion  have  always  been  indissolubly 
connected  in  the  East.  All  trade  and  commercial 
intercourse  requires  peaceable  and  secure  places  in 
which  it  may  be  transacted.  In  the  limited  countries 
of  Europe  inhabited  by  nations  partly  or  altogether 
civilized  every  city,  indeed  almost  every  hamlet  affords 
this.  How  totally  different  is  the  case  in  the  immeas- 
urable tracts  of  the  East?  The  rich  caravans  here  have 


1 8  CARLISLE 

often  to  perform  journeys  of  hundreds  of  miles  through 
nations  of  nomad  robbers.  The  mart  is  not  where  they 
might  choose,  but  on  the  boundaries  of  the  desert, 
where  nature  herself  fixes  it  in  the  midst  or  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  these  roving  hordes.  What  can  protect 
commerce  here  but  the  sanctity  of  the  place?  Where 
are  their  asylums  except  under  the  walls  of  the  temple? 

Besides,  a  profitable  and  ready  sale  of  merchandise 
requires  resorting  together  of  men;  and  where  does  this 
take  place  so  frequently  and  to  such  an  extent  as  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  national  sanctuaries,  where  whole  nations 
celebrate  their  feasts.  Here  where  men  give  them- 
selves up  to  good  living;  the  necessaries  of  life  will  be 
plentiful,  and  here  the  merchant  will  obtain  the  best 
profits.  Now,  however,  the  East  affords  a  striking 
example  of  the  extent  to  which  the  trade  by  sea  has 
diminished  that  by  land.  Mecca  remains  still  through 
its  holy  sanctuary  the  chief  mart  for  the  commerce  of 
Arabia  and  what  are  the  great  caravans  of  pilgrims 
which  journey  thither  from  Asia  and  Africa  but  trading 
caravans?  Are  not  the  fairs  which  depend  upon  them 
the  greatest  in  Asia? 

The  rapidity  with  which  a  place  rises  in  the  East, 
when  once  it  has  obtained  a  sanctuary  that  becomes  the 
object  of  pilgrimage  and  by  that  means  becomes  a  place 
of  trade,  almost  surpasses  belief.  Tenta,  a  city  of  the 
Delta,  is  celebrated  as  containing  the  sepulchre  of  a 
Mohammetan  Mohomitan  saint  Seyd  Achmed.  The 
veneration  in  which  this  is  held  brings  an  incredible 
number  of  pilgrims,  who  come  at  the  time  of  the  spring 
equinox  and  summer  solstice,  from  Egypt,  Abysinnia, 
Arabia  and  Darfour.  Their  number  is  stated  at  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  19 

The  whole  organization  of  social  life  in  these  parts 
contributes  towards  it. 

These  periodical  assemblies,  besides  the  worship  of 
the  saint,  are  devoted  to  commerce;  and  each  of  them 
is  a  period  of  a  celebrated  fair  which  lasts  for  many 
days  and  at  which  the  produce  of  Upper  Egypt,  the  coast 
of  Barbary  and  the  whole  of  the  East  is  exchanged  for 
the  cattle  of  the  Delta  and  the  linen  there  manufactured. 

The  fame  of  the  Ethiopians  as  a  civilized  people  had 
forced  its  way  into  Greece  in  the  time  of  Homer  and 
referred  preeminently  to  Meroe.  The  hundred  gated 
Thebes  is  celebrated  by  the  same  poet.  The  traditions 
of  Jupiter  Ammon  in  Libya  are  interwoven  with  most 
ancient  Greek  Mythi  (Dioatorus  i,  p.  237)  and  that  the 
Carthaginian  coasts  was  a  theatre  of  these  mythi  is 
generally  known  from  the  Argonautic  expedition,  the 
Triton  sea,  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides,  the  Gorgons, 
etc. 

All  this  proves  that  rumors  of  these  regions  and  places 
travelled  very  early  into  the  West;  and  is  it  not  evident 
that  these  should  be  understood  of  the  places,  which 
were  the  seats  of  national  commerce? 

The  chief  places  of  this  trade  were  likewise  establish- 
ments of  the  priest  caste  who  as  a  dominant  race  had 
their  principal  seat  at  Meroe  whence  they  sent  out 
colonies  which  in  their  turn  became  builders  of  cities 
and  temples  and  likewise  the  founders  of  states. 

No  doubt  therefore  can  exist  respecting  the  close 
connection  between  trade  and  religion  here,  nor  respect- 
ing the  manner  in  which  more  than  one  state  can  be 
formed  in  the  interior  of  Africa  in  very  high  antiquity. 

Notwithstanding  the  part  which  nomads  took  in 
conducting  it,  the  trade  itself  still  remained  in  the  hands 


20  CARLISLE 

of  Meroe  and  Auxum,  who  carried  it  on  by  their  foreign 
settlements  and  these  places  still  remain  what  nature 
herself  has  appointed,  the  great  marts  for  the  southern 
commerce. 

Thus  the  great  conclusion  so  interesting  and  important 
for  human  nature  and  its  history,  becomes  in  a  manner 
forced  upon  us;  the  first  seats  of  commerce  were  also 
the  first  seats  of  civilization;  exchange  of  merchandise 
led  to  exchange  of  ideas  and  by  this  mutual  friction  was 
first  kindled  the  sacred  flame  of  moral  and  intellectual 
culture. 

That  this  civilization  of  the  Ethiopians,  that  is,  of  the 
ruling  priest  caste,  was  bound  to  their  religion  is  easily 
shown.  Some  scientific  knowledge  must  indisputably 
have  been  connected  with  it  else  the  erection  of  these 
monuments  would  have  been  impossible. 

Diodorus  derives  the  civilization  of  the  Egyptians 
in  general  from  Ethiopia.  Champollion  by  comparing 
the  manners  and  customs,  the  political  institutions  and 
physical  organizations  of  the  Egyptians  with  those  of 
other  nations  regards  it  as  certain  that  they  are  a  genuine 
African  descended  race. 

The  Ethiopians  possessed  the  art  of  writing,  not 
however,  alphabetical  characters  but  merely  picture 
writing,  a  proof  of  which  is  still  preserved  upon  the  ruins 
of  Meroe  and  from  this  passage  the  first  invention  of  it 
has  been  attributed  to  them.  The  invention  of  this  kind 
of  writing  would  be  nowhere  more  easy  than  among 
a  people  with  so  decided  a  bias  for  the  pictorial  arts 
nor  the  use  and  perfectioning  of  it  more  natural  than 
in  a  state  whose  government,  next  to  religion,  was  founded 
upon  trade.  A  very  interesting  fact,  however,  is  re- 
corded by  Diodorus;  namely  that  the  knowledge  of 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  21 

picture  writing  in  Ethiopia  was  not  a  privilege  confined 
solely  to  the  caste  of  priests  as  in  Egypt,  but  that  every 
one  might  attain  it  as  freely  as  they  might  in  Egypt 
the  writing  in  common  use.  This,  then,  is  a  powerful 
proof  of  its  being  applied  to  the  purposes  of  trade. 
A  great  commercial  nation  altogether  without  writing 
surely  could  never  exist.  Hieroglyphics  were  quite 
adequate  for  the  caravan  trade  whose '  regular  course 
and  simple  merchandise  demanded  but  few  accounts. 

The  fame  of  the  piety  and  justice  of  the  Ethiopians, 
true  even  to  our  day  among  African  natives,  spread 
to  the  most  distant  regions  even  to  the  Greeks.  They 
are  the  first  virtues  which  would  be  cultivated  in  a 
nation  whose  government  was  established  by  religion 
and  commerce  and  not  by  violence  and  oppression. 

The  progress  this  nation  had  made  in  the  pictorial 
arts  is  still  one  of  the  greatest  problems,  though  one  of 
the  greatest  certainties.  The  ruins  of  those  colossal 
monuments,  more  or  less  preserved,  still  lie  there  and 
will  remain  the  everlasting  proofs  of  the  awful  magnifi- 
cence of  their  architecture.1 

Walking  among  ruins  the  traveller  forgets  the  present  to  contem- 
plate the  past  and  amid  the  traces  of  a  degenerate  race  mark  the 
remains  of  a  mighty  nation. 

"The  flourishing  period  of  Meroe  was  700-800  B.  C., 
the  period  in  which  the  three  mighty  conquerors,  Sabaco, 
Sevechus  and  Tirharkah  or  Tarhaco  started  up  as  con- 
querors and  directed  their  weapons  against  Egypt,  to 
which  at  least  Upper  Egypt  became  an  easy  prey,  the  un- 
fortunate troubles  of  the  dodecarchy  having  just  taken 
place.  According  to  Eusibius,  Sabaco  reigned  twelve, 

*  A.  H.  L.  Hieren:  Extracts  from  Com.  of  Mero£. 


22  CARLISLE 

Sevechus  twelve  and  Tirharkah  twenty  years.  Hero- 
dotus mentions  only  Sabaco,  to  whom  he  gives  a  reign 
of  fifty  years,  which  covers  the  whole  dynasty."  Later 
research,  however,  has  given  us  five  Ethiopian  kings  of 
pure  stock:  Piankhi,  Shabaka,  Shabataka,  Tirharkah 
and  Tamitamon,  all  of  whose  reigns  we  have  been  able 
to  give  in  detail  under  Mr.  Breasted's  "  Ethiopian 
Supremacy." 

Herodotus  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  reign 
of  Sabaco  the  Ethiopian.  He  was  a  just  king,  who 
punished  crime  not  by  putting  to  death,  but  passed 
sentence  according  to  the  magnitude  of  the  offence, 
that  imposed  being  to  throw  up  mounds  or  dams  about 
the  city  to  which  they  belonged,  thus  making  the  cities 
higher. 

After  a  reign  of  fifty  years,  remembering  that  the 
oracle  had  said  he  was  to  remain  in  Egypt  for  that  length 
of  time  and  having  had  a  vision  that  seemed  to  bode  ill, 
he  returned  to  Ethiopia.  This  shows  their  great  faith 
in  and  dependence  upon  the  oracle  of  Ammon. 

Sevechus  was  the  contemporary  of  Hosea,  king  of 
Israel,  whose  reign  ended  722,  and  of  Salmanasar. 

Tirharkah  was  the  contemporary  of  his  successor, 
Sennacherib,  and  deterred  him  in  the  year  714  B.  C. 
from  the  invasions  of  Egypt  merely  by  the  rumor  of  his 
advance  against  him.  His  name  was  not  unknown  to 
the  Greeks.  Eratosthenes,  in  Strabo,  mentions  him  as  a 
conqueror  who  had  penetrated  into  Europe  and  as  far 
as  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  that  is,  as  a  great  conqueror. 
Meroe  must  have  ranked  at  this  time  as  a  very  important 
state  and  we  shall  find  this  to  be  the  case  if  we  go  back 
about  two  hundred  years  to  the  time  of  Asa,  the  great 
grandson  of  Solomon,  but  who  nevertheless  mounted 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  23 

the  throne  of  Judah  within  twenty  years  after  his  grand- 
sires  death,  955.  "Against  him  went  out  Zerah,  the 
Ethiopian,  with  a  host  of  a  thousand  thousand  men  and 
three  hundred  chariots . ' '  This  is  a  proof  of  the  mightiness 
of  the  empire  which  at  this  time  probably  comprised 
Arabia  Felix,  but  the  chariots  of  war,  which  were  never 
in  use  in  Arabia,  prove  that  the  passage  refers  to  Ethio- 
pia. Zerah 's  exhibition  took  place  in  the  early  part  of 
Asa's  reign,  about  nine  hundred  and  fifty  years  before 
Christ,  and  such  an  empire  could  not  be  quite  a  new  one. 
We  are  led  by  undoubted  historical  statements  up  to 
the  period  of  Solomon,  about  1000  B.  C.  Further  back 
than  this  the  annals  of  history  are  silent  but  the  monu- 
ments now  begin  to  speak  and  confirm  that  high  an- 
tiquity which  general  opinion  and  the  tradition  of 
Meroe  attribute  to  this  state.  The  name  of  Rameses 
or  Sesostris  has  been  found  upon  many  of  the  Nubian 
monuments,  and  that  he  was  the  conqueror  of  Ethiopia 
is  known  from  history.  The  period  in  which  he  flour- 
ished cannot  be  placed  later  than  fifteen  hundred  years 
before  the  Christian  era.  But  the  name  of  Thutmosis, 
belonging  to  the  preceding  dynasty,  has  also  been  found 
in  Nubia,  and  that  assuredly  upon  one  of  the  most 
ancient  monuments  of  Armada.  But  in  this  sculpture, 
as  well  as  in  the  procession  representing  the  victory  over 
Ethiopia,  in  the  offering  of  the  booty,  there  appears  a 
degree  of  civilization  which  shows  an  acquaintance 
with  the  peaceful  arts;  they  must  consequently  be 
attributed  to  a  nation  that  had  long  been  formed. 


24  CARLISLE 


ETHIOPIAN  SUPREMACY. 

Ethiopia,  sable  goddess,  from  her  ebon  throne  now  stretches  forth 
in  royal  majesty  Her  ebon  sceptor  o'er  the  ancient  world. 

"I  am  born  6f  the  loins  created  from  the  egg  of  the  Diety. 
I  have  not  acted  without  his  knowledge;  he  ordained  that 
I  should  so  act."  This  was  the  declaration  of  Piankhi, 
an  Ethiopian  monarch  of  Egypt,  when  marching  against 
the  native  princes  that  had  revolted  from  him.  This 
assertion  embodies  the  pride  of  birth  that  characterized 
the  Ethiopian  of  antiquity.  They  knew  that  they  were 
a  great  people  and  under  a  special  dispensation.  They 
believed  that  they  had  a  covenant  with  the  Diety,  and 
all  the  privileges  and  obligations  that  went  with  it,  all 
this  favor  having  come  to  them  through  their  merits  of 
good  principle  and  acceptable  conduct. 

Lower  Nubia  had  been  dominated  by  the  Egyptians 
for  over  eighteen  hundred  years  while  the  country  above 
the  second  cataract  to  the  region  of  the  fourth  cataract 
had  for  the  most  part  been  under  Egyptian  control  for 
something  like  a  thousand  years.  The  fertile  and 
productive  land  below  the  fourth  cataract,  the  rich  gold 
mines  in  the  mountains  east  of  Lower  Nubia,  which 
compensated  in  some  measure  for  its  agricultural  pov- 
erty, and  the  active  trade  from  the  Sudan  which  was 
constantly  passing  through  the  country  made  it  a  land 
of  resources  and  possibilities  which  the  Egyptianized 
Nubian,  slowly  awakening  to  his  birthright,  was  now 
beginning  to  realize. 

"Sheshouk  I.  had  still  held  Nubia  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  cataract  country  was  still  a  dependency  of 
Egypt  until  the  middle  of  the  Twenty-second  Dynasty, 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  2$ 

about  850  B.  C.  Nubia  had  for  five  centuries  been  very 
closely  connected  with  Thebes  and  the  temple  of  Amon. 
The  control  of  the  Theban  High  Priest  had  finally 
strengthened  into  full  possession  of  Nubia  for  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years.  It  must  have  been  the  Theban 
priesthood,  perhaps  as  political  exiles,  who  founded  the 
Amonite  theocracy  which  now  as  a  fully  developed 
Nubian  king  emerges  upon  our  view,  with  its  seat  of 
government  at  Napata,  just  below  the  fourth  cataract. 
Napata  had  been  an  Egyptian  frontier  station  from  the 
days  of  Amenhotep  II.  seven  hundred  years  earlier. 
It  was  the  remotest  point  in  Egyptian  Nubia  and  hence 
safest  from  attack  from  the  north." 

The  state  which  arose  here  was  in  accordance  with  our 
explanation  of  its  origin,  a  reproduction  of  the  Amonite 
theocracy  at  Thebes. 

The  state  god  was  Amon  and  he  continually  inter- 
vened directly  in  the  affairs  of  government  by  specific 
oracles.  The  king  bore  all  the  Pharaonic  titles,  calling 
himself  Lord  of  the  Two  Lands  as  if  he  governed  all 
Egypt.  He  built  temples  of  Egyptian  architecture, 
decorated  with  Egyptian  reliefs  and  bearing  hiero- 
glyphic inscriptions  and  dedications  of  the  traditional 
Egyptian  form.  By  721  B.  C.  we  suddenly  find  Pianki, 
the  Nubian  (Negro)  king,  then  over  twenty  years  upon 
the  throne,  in  possession  of  Upper  Egypt  as  far  north  as 
Heracleopolis  just  south  of  the  Fayum,  with  Nubian  * 
(Negro)  garrisons  in  the  more  important  towns.  At 
this  time  the  Twenty-third  Dynasty,  represented  by 
Osorkon  III  at  Bubastis,  was  no  longer  actually  ruling 
more  than  the  district  of  Bubastis  and  surrounded  by 
rivals  in  every  important  town  in  the  Delta.  This 

*  Nubian  here  we  interpret  as  Negro. 


26  CARLISLE 

Saite  had  subdued  all  his  neighbors  in  the  western  Delta 
and,  beginning  the  absorption  of  Upper  Egypt,  had 
already  captured  Hermopolis.  Painkhi  sent  an  army 
against  him  which  drove  him  back  into  the  Delta  and 
began  the  siege  of  Hermopolis.  Several  months  later 
Piankhi  himself  reached  Hermopolis  with  reinforcements 
and  vigorously  pushed  the  siege,  soon  forcing  the  sur- 
render of  the  place. 

The  advance  to  the  Delta,  sailing  down  the  Bahr 
Yusuf ,  was  then  begun,  and  the  chief  towns  of  the  west 
side  surrendered  one  after  another  on  seeing  Piankhi's 
force.  The  Nubian  (Negro)  king  offered  sacrifice  to  the 
gods  in  all  the  cities  which  he  passed  and  took  possession 
of  all  the  available  property  for  his  own  treasury  and  the 
estate  of  Amon.  On  reaching  Memphis  it  was  found  to 
be  very  strongly  fortified  by  Tefnakhte  who  exhorted 
the  garrison  to  rely  on  their  strong  walls,  their  plenti- 
ful supplies  and  the  high  water  which  protected  the  east 
side  from  attack,  while  he  rode  away  northward  for  re- 
inforcements. Having  landed  on  the  north  of  the  city, 
Piankhi,  surprised  at  the  strength  of  the  place,  devised  a 
shrewd  plan  of  assault,  which  speaks  highly  for  his  skill 
as  a  strategist.  The  high  walls  on  the  west  of  the  city 
had  been  recently  raised  still  higher,  and  it  was  evident 
that  the  east  side,  protected  by  waters,  perhaps  artifi- 
cially raised,  was  being  neglected. 

Here  was  the  harbour,  where  the  ships  now  floated  so 
high  that  their  bow  ropes  were  fastened  among  the  houses 
of  the  city.  Piankhi  sent  his  fleet  against  the  harbour 
and  quickly  captured  all  the  shipping.  Then  taking 
command  in  person  he  rapidly  ranged  the  captured 
craft,  together  with  his  own  fleet,  along  the  eastern  walls, 
thus  furnishing  footing  for  his  assaulting  lines  which  he 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  2? 

immediately  sent  over  the  ramparts  and  captured  the 
city,  before  its  eastern  defenses  could  be  strengthened 
against  him. 

The  entire  region  of  Memphis  then  submitted,  where- 
upon the  Delta  dynasts  also  appeared  in  numbers  with 
gifts  for  Piankhi  and  signified  their  submission.  Piankhi 
now  crossed  the  river  and  followed  the  old  sacred  road 
to  Heliopolis,  where  he  camped  by  the  harbour.  His 
annals  narrate  at  length  how  he  entered  the  holy  of  holies 
of  the  sun-god  here,  that  he  might  be  recognized  as  his 
son  and  heir  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  according  to  the 
custom  since  the  remote  days  of  the  Fifth  Dynasty. 
Here  King  Osorkon  III  of  the  Twenty-third  Dynasty  at 
Bubastis,  now  but  a  petty  dynast  like  the  rest,  visited 
Piankhi  and  recognized  the  Nubian's  suzerainty.  Hav- 
ing then  moved  his  camp  to  a  point  just  east  of  Athribis, 
Piankhi  there  received  the  submission  of  the  principal 
Delta  bards,  fifteen  in  number. 

Meantime  the  desperate  Tefnakhte,  having  been  driven 
from  his  last  fortress,  had  taken  refuge  on  one  of  the 
remote  islands  in  the  western  mouths  of  the  Nile.  Many 
miles  of  vast  Delta  morass  and  network  of  irrigation 
canals  separated  Piankhi  from  the  fugitive. 

It  would  have  been  a  hazardous  undertaking  to  dis- 
patch an  army  into  such  a  region.  When  therefore, 
Tefnakhte  sent  gifts  and  an  humble  message  of  submis- 
sion requesting  that  Piankhi  send  to  him  a  messenger 
with  whom  he  might  go  to  a  neighboring  temple  and  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his  Nubian  suzerian,  Piankhi 
was  very  glad  to  accept  the  proposal.  This  done,  a 
Nubian  Pharaoh  had  obtained  complete  recognition, 
had  supplanted  the  Libyans  and  was  lord  of  all  Egypt. 

When  his  Delta  vassals  had  paid  Piankhi  a  last  visit, 


28  CARLISLE 

he  loaded  his  ships  with  the  riches  of  the  North  and  sailed 
away  to  his  southern  capital  amid  the  acclamation  of  the 
people.  Arrived  at  Napata,  Piankhi  erected  in  the 
temple  of  Amon  a  magnificent  granite  stela,  inscribed  on 
all  four  sides,  recording  in  detail  the  entire  campaign. 
It  is  the  clearest  and  most  rational  account  of  a  military 
expedition  which  has  survived  from  ancient  Egypt. 

It  is  this  document  of  course  which  has  enabled  us  to 
follow  Piankhi  in  his  conquest  of  the  North  (Bar.  IV, 
796-883) .  Tefnakhte,  while  he  had  nominally  submitted 
to  Piankhi,  only  awaited  the  withdrawal  of  the  Ethio- 
ian  to  resume  his  designs.  He  eventually  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  kingdom  of  Lower  Egypt,  assumed  the 
Pharaonic  titles  and  ruled  at  least  eight  years  over  a 
feudal  state  like  that  of  the  Twenty-second  Dynasty. 
His  reign  is  parallel  with  the  last  years  of  the  Twenty- 
third  Dynasty,  which  seems  to  have  struggled  on  at 
Bubastis  as  vassal  princes  under  him.  In  Upper  Egypt 
Pankhi  controlled  Thebes  long  enough  to  do  some  slight 
building  in  the  temple  of  Mut. 

In  order  to  gain  the  control  of  the  fortune  of  Amon  with 
an  appearance  of  legitimacy,  Piankhi  had  caused  his 
sister- wife,  Amenardis,  to  be  adopted  by  Shepnupet,  the 
daughter  of  Osorkon  III,  who  was  sacerdotal  princess  of 
Thebes.  The  device  was  probably  not  new.  But  as 
Piankhi  withdrew,  the  decadent  Twenty-third  Dynasty 
put  forth  its  last  expiring  effort  and  established  an 
ephemeral  authority  in  Thebes.  Piankhi's  invasion  of 
Egypt  and  entire  reign  there  seems  therefore  to  have 
fallen  into  the  reign  of  Osorkon  III. 

But  the  rising  power  of  Sais  soon  overwhelmed  the 
failing  Bubastites  and  Bocchoris  son  of  Tefnakhte  of  Sais, 
gained  the  throne  of  Lower  Egypt  about  718  B.  C.,  to  be 


THE    ANCIENT   NEGRO  2Q 

later  known  as  the  founder  and,  in  so  far  as  we  know,  the 
sole  king  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Dynasty. 

Egypt  had  now  been  under  the  divided  authority  of 
numerous  local  dynasts  for  probably  over  a  century  and 
a  half.  With  its  vast  works  of  irrigation  slowly  going  to 
ruin,  its  roads  unprotected,  intercourse  between  cities 
unsafe,  and  the  large  communities  suffering  from  constant 
turmoil  and  agitation,  the  productive  capacity  of  the 
country  was  steadily  waning,  while  foreign  commerce 
disappeared.  The  hopeless  state  of  the  country  was 
clearly  understood  by  the  sagacious  Isaiah,  who  declared 
to  his  people  "Behold  the  Lord  rideth  upon  a  swift  cloud 
and  cometh  unto  Egypt ;  and  the  idols  of  Egypt  shall  be 
moved  at  his  presence,  and  the  heart  of  Egypt  shall 
melt  in  the  midst  of  it.  And  I  will  stir  up  the  Egyptians 
against  the  Egyptians;  and  they  shall  fight  every  one 
against  his  brother  and  every  one  against  his  neighbor; 
city  against  city  and  kingdom  against  kingdom.  And  I 
will  give  over  the  Egyptians  into  the  hand  of  a  cruel 
lord,  and  a  fierce  king  shall  rule  over  them  saith  the 
Lord  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  The  princes  of  Zoan  are 
utterly  foolish  the  counsel  of  the  wisest  counsellors  of 
Pharaoh  is  become  brutish. 

The  princes  of  Zoan  are  become  fools;  the  princes  of 
Noph  (Napata)  are  deceived;  they  have  caused  Egypt 
to  go  astray  that  are  the  cornerstone  of  her  tribes. 
The  Lord  hath  mingled  a  spirit  of  perverseness  in  the 
midst  of  her.  They  have  caused  Egypt  to  go  astray 
in  every  work  thereof  as  a  drunken  man  staggering  in 
his  vomit.  Neither  shall  there  be  for  Egypt  any  work 
which  head  or  tail,  palm  branch  or  rush,  may  do."  (Is. 
XIX.)  No  truer  picture  could  possibly  be  portrayed. 


30  CARLISLE 

SHABAKA  (REIGN  OF). 

Some  ten  years  after  the  retirement  of  Piankhi,  the 
Nubian  kings  again  appeared  in  the  North.  Piankhi 
had  now  been  succeeded  by  his  brother  Shabaka,  with 
whom  the  uninterrupted  series  of  pure  Ethiopian  royal 
names  begins.  We  possess  no  native  records  of  his 
conquest  of  the  country,  but  Manetho  states  that  he 
burned  Bocchoris  alive.  Lower  Egypt  was  subdued, 
Ethiopian  Supremacy  acknowledged,  and  Shabaka  en- 
trenched himself  so  firmly  that  he  became  founder  of  the 
Twenty-fifth  Dynasty  (or  Ethiopian)  as  reported  by 
Manetho.  Appreciating  the  serious  danger  of  Assyria's 
presence  on  his  very  borders,  Shabaka  immediately  sent 
his  agents  among  the  Syro-Palestinian  states  to  excite 
them  to  revolt.  In  Philistia,  Judah,  Moabaud,  Edom, 
he  promised  the  vassals  of  Assyria  support  in  rebellion 
against  their  Ninevite  Suzerain. 

Remembering  the  ancient  supremacy  of  Egypt, 
failing  to  understand  the  state  of  decadent  importance 
into  which  she  had  fallen,  and  anxious  to  shake  off 
oppressive  Assyrian  yoke,  they  lent  a  ready  ear  to  the 
emissaries  of  Shabaka.  Only  in  Judah  did  the  prophet 
statesman,  Isaiah,  foresee  the  futility  of  depending  upon 
Egypt,  and  the  final  catastrophe  which  should  overtake 
her  at  the  hands  of  Assyria.  The  vigilant  Assyrian, 
however,  hearing  of  the  projected  alliance,  acted  so 
quickly  that  the  conspirators  were  glad  to  drop  their 
designs  and  protest  fidelity.  In  spite  of  difficulties  in 
Babylon  and  rebellions  in  the  north,  the  able  and  aggres- 
sive Sargon  pushed  the  consolidation  of  his  power  with 
brilliant  success  and  left  to  his  son  Sennacherib  in  705 
B.  C.  the  first  stable  and  firmly  compacted  empire  ever 
founded  by  a  Semitic  power.1 

>•  i  Is.  XX,  Wang:  Bar  IV,  920. 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  31 

Sennacherib  was  embarrassed  in  his  earlier  years 
with  the  usual  complications  in  Babylon.  Maraduk- 
baliddin  (Mero-dach-Baladan)  an  able  and  active 
claimant  of  the  Babylonian  throne,  who  had  already 
caused  Sennacherib's  father  much  trouble,  now  sent 
his  emissaries  to  stir  up  defection  and  create  a  diversion 
in  his  favor  in  the  west.  As  a  result  Luli,  the  energetic 
king  of  Tyre,  Hezekiah  of  Judah,  the  dynasts  of  Edom, 
Moab  and  Ammon  with  the  chiefs  of  their  Beduin 
neighbors,  in  fact  all  the  southern  half  of  the  Assyrian 
conquests  in  the  west  besides  Egypt,  were  finally  or- 
ganized in  a  great  alliance  against  Nineveh.  Before  the 
allies  could  act  in  concert  Sennacherib  suddenly  appeared 
in  the  west,  marched  down  the  Phoenician  coast,  captur- 
ing all  its  strongholds  save  Tyre;  and  pressed  on  south- 
ward to  the  revolting  Philistine  cities.  Here  having 
punished  Askalon  he  advanced  to  Altaqu,  where  he 
came  upon  the  mother  army  gathered  by  the  tardy 
Shabaka  among  his  northern  vassals  whom  Sennacherib 
calls  "the  Kings  of  Mucri  (Egypt). 

We  know  nothing  of  the  strength  of  this  force,  al- 
though Sennacherib  claims  that  they  were  "without 
number";  but  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  it  was  not  a 
formidable  army.  A  loose  aggregation  of  levies  from 
the  domains  of  the  local  Delta  princes  was  little  fitted  to 
meet  the  compact  and  finely  organized  armies  which 
the  Assyrian  kings  had  gradually  developed  till  they  had 
become  the  dread  and  terror  of  the  west.  Although 
small  Egyptian  contingents  had  before  served  as  auxil- 
iaries against  the  Assyrians,  the  armies  of  the  two  em- 
pires on  the  Nile  and  the  Tigris  had  never  before  faced 
each  other.  Sennacherib  led  his  own  power  in  person 
while  the  Egyptian  army  was  entrusted  by  Shabaka  to 


32  CARLISLE 

his  nephew,  a  son  of  Piankhi  named  Taharka  (Tirharkah), 
who  some  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  afterward  became 
king  of  Ethiopia  —  a  fact  which  led  the  Hebrew  annalist  to 
give  him  that  title  already  at  the  time  of  this  campaign. 
There  was  but  one  possible  issue  for  the  battle;  Senna- 
cherib disposed  of  Taharka 's  army  without  difficulty; 
having  meanwhile  beleagered  Jerusalem,  the  plague  in- 
fected winds  from  the  malarial  shores  east  of  the  Delta 
had  scattered  death  among  his  troops.  This  over- 
whelming catastrophe,  together  with  disquieting  news 
from  Babylon,  forced  him  hastily  to  retire  to  Nineveh, 
thus  bringing  to  Jerusalem  the  deliverance  promised 
by  Isaiah,  an  event  in  which  pious  tradition  afterwards 
saw  the  destroying  angel  of  the  Lord.  This  deliverance 
was  perhaps  as  fortunate  for  Egypt  as  Jerusalem.  For 
the  third  time  the  invincible  Assyrian  army  had  stood 
on  the  very  threshold  of  Egypt  and  still  the  decrepit 
nation  on  the  Nile  was  spared  the  inevitable  humiliation 
which  was  now  so  near.  The  Syro-Palestinian  princes, 
however,  were  so  thoroughly  cowed  that  Egypt  was 
thenceforth  unable  to  seduce  them  to  rebellion.  Like 
the  Hebrews,  they  at  last  recognized  the  truth,  as  mock- 
ingly stated  by  the  officers  of  Sennacherib  to  the  un- 
happy ambassadors  of  Jerusalem;  "Now  behold,  thou 
trusted  upon  the  staff  of  this  bruised  reed,  even  upon 
Egypt ;  whereon  if  a  man  lean  it  will  go  into  his  hand  and 
pierce  it;  so  is  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt  unto  all  that  trust 
on  him." l 

Shabaka  apparently  ruled  his  vassal  Egyptian  states 
for  the  remainder  of  his  reign  in  peace.  The  fragments 
of  a  clay  tablet  bearing  the  seal  of  Shabaka  and  a  king 

i  Kings  II.  XIX. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO 


33 


of  Assyria,  found  at  Kuyunjek  may  indicate  some  agree- 
ment between  the  two  nations.  At  Thebes,  Shabaka 
reinstated  his  sister,  Amenardis,  who  must  have  been 
temporarily  expelled  by  Osorkon  III. 


He  built  a  chapel  at  Karnak  and  his  building  operations 
necessitated  an  expedition  to  the  distant  quarries  of 
Hammamat.  We  also  find  records  of  his  temple  restora- 
tions at  Thebes  and  it  is  evident  that  he  governed  Egypt 
at  least  in  his  relations  with  the  temples,  precisely  as  a 
native  Pharaoh  would  have  done.  It  was  probably 
Shabaka  who  now  broke  the  power  of  the  High  Priest 
at  Amon,  of  whose  importance  we  shall  see  further  as 
we  proceed. 

SHABATAKA. 

About  700  B.  C.  Shabaka  was  succeeded  by  Shabataka 
another  Ethiopian  whose  connection  with  the  reigning 
Ethiopian  or  Nubian  family  is  a  little  uncertain,  although 
Manetho,  who  calls  him  Sebichos,  makes  him  a  son  of 


34  CARLISLE 

Shabaka.  As  the  western  vassals  remained  quiet  and 
Sennacherib  was  now  absorbed  in  his  operations  at  the 
other  extremity  of  his  empire,  Shabataka  was  unmolested 
by  the  Assyrian. 


His  name  is  rare  in  Egypt  but  it  is  evident  from  the 
conditions  which  survived  him  that  he  was  entirely 
unable  to  exterminate  the  local  dynasts  and  consolidate 
the  power  of  Egypt.  His  reign  ended  about  688  B.  C. 

TAHARKA  (TIRHARKAH). 

It  is  at  this  juncture  that  we  can  trace  the  rising 
fortunes  of  a  son  of  Piankhi,  prince  Taharka,  whose 
features  as  preserved  in  contemporary  sculptures  show 
unmistakable  negroid  characteristics.  He  had  been 
entrusted  with  the  command  of  the  army  in  the  cam- 
paign against  Sennacherib.  While  we  know  nothing 
of  the  circumstances  which  brought  about  his  advent 
to  the  throne,  Manetho  states  that  leading  an  army  from 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  35 

Ethiopia  he  slew  Sebichos,  who  must  be  Shabataka,  and 
seized  the  crown.  The  contemporary  monuments,  with- 
out intimation  of  these  events,  abruptly  picture  him  in 
Tanis  as  king,  summoning  his  mother,  whom  he  has  not 
seen  in  many  years,  from  Napata  to  Tanis,  that  she  may 
assume  her  proper  station  as  queen  mother  there.  In 
view  of  this  fact  and  the  trouble  to  be  anticipated  from 
Assyria,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  Ethiopians  at  this 
time  maintained  Tanis  as  their  Egyptian  residence. 


For  some  thirteen  years  Taharka  ruled  his  kingdom 
without  interference  from  Assyria.  The  west  had  for 
twenty  years  seen  nothing  of  Sennacherib,  who  was  now 
assassinated  by  his  son  in  68 1  B.  C.  As  soon  as  Esar- 
haddon  could  arrange  the  affairs  of  the  great  empire  to 
which  he  had  succeeded,  he  determined  to  resort  to  the 
only  possible  remedy  for  the  constant  interference  of 
Egypt  with  the  authority  of  Assyria  in  Palestine,  viz., 
the  conquest  of  the  Nile  country  and  humiliation  of  the 
Pharaoh.  With  farseeing  thoroughness  he  laid  his  plans 


36  CARLISLE 

for  the  execution  of  this  purpose  and  his  army  was 
knocking  at  the  frontier  fortresses  of  the  eastern  Delta 
in  674  B.  C.  But  Taharka,  who  was  a  man  of  far  greater 
ability  than  his  two  Ethiopian  predecessors,  must  have 
made  a  supreme  effort  to  meet  the  crisis.  The  out- 
come of  the  battle  (673  B.  C.)  was  unfavorable  for  the 
Assyrian,  if  indeed,  as  the  documents  perhaps  indi- 
cate, the  Assyrian  did  not  suffer  positive  defeat.  But 
Esarhaddon  nevertheless  quietly  continued  his  prepara- 
tions for  the  conquest  of  Egypt.  Baal,  king  of  Tyre, 
perhaps  encouraged  by  the  indecisive  result  of  the  first 
Assyrian  invasion,  then  rebelled,  making  common  cause 
with  Taharka.  In  670  B.  C.  Esarhaddon  was  again 
in  the  west  at  the  head  of  his  forces.  Having  invested 
Tyre,  he  defeated  and  scattered  the  Egyptian  army. 
As  the  Ethiopian  fell  back  upon  Memphis  Esarhaddon 
pressed  him  closely  and  beseiged  and  captured  the  city, 
which  fell  a  rich  prey  to  the  cruel  and  rapacious  Ninevite 
army.  Fleeing  southward,  Taharka  abandoned  Lower 
Egypt,  which  was  immediately  organized  by  Esarhaddon 
into  dependencies  of  Assyria. 

He  records  the  names  of  twenty  lords  of  the  Delta 
formerly  Ethiopian  vassals  who  now  took  the  oath  of 
fealty  to  him.  Among  these  names,  written  in  cuniform, 
a  number  may  be  recognized  as  those  of  the  same  men 
with  eighteen  of  whom  Piankhi  had  to  deal  in  the  same 
region. 

Necho,  doubtless  descendant  of  Tefnakhte  occupies  the 
most  prominent  place  among  them  as  prince  of  Sais  and 
Memphis.  The  list  also  includes  a  prince  of  Thebes, 
but  Esarhaddon  possessed  no  more  than  a  nominal 
authority  in  Upper  Egypt  at  this  time.  As  he  returned 
to  Nineveh  northward  along  the  coast  road  he  hewed 
in  the  rock  at  the  Dog  River,  beside  the  triumphant 


THE   ANCIENT  NEGRO  37 

stelar  of  Rameses  II,  a  record  of  his  great  achievement, 
while  in  Samal  in  North  Syria  he  erected  a  similar 
monument  representing  himself,  of  heroic  stature,  leading 
two  captives,  of  whom  one  is  probably  Baal  of  Tyre  and 
the  other,  as  his  negroid  features  indicate,  is  the  unfortu- 
nate Taharka. 

After  the  domination  of  Libyan  and  Nubian  in  turn, 
Egypt  was  now  a  prey  to  a  third  foreign  conqueror  who, 
however,  differed  essentially  from  the  others  in  that  he 
resided  abroad  and  evinced  not  the  slightest  sympathy 
with  Egyptian  institutions  and  customs.  The  result  was 
that  the  Delta  kinglets  who  had  sworn  allegiance  to  the 
Ninevite  immediately  plotted  with  Taharka  for  the 
resumption  of  his  rule  in  Lower  Egypt,  which  he  there- 
upon assumed  without  much  delay  on  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Assyrian  army.  Esarhaddon  was  thus  forced  to 
begin  his  work  over  again;  but  in  668  B.C.,  while  on  the 
march  to  resume  operations  in  Egypt,  he  died.  With 
but  slight  delay  his  son  Ashurbanipal  continued  the 
campaign,  and  placed  one  of  his  commanders  in  charge 
of  the  expedition. 

Between  Memphis  and  the  frontier,  eastern  Delta 
Taharka  was  again  routed.  He  fled  to  Thebes  this  time 
pursued  by  the  Assyrians  who  made  the  forty  days 
march  thither  determined  to  expel  him  from  Egypt. 
Whether  the  enemy  actually  captured  Thebes  at  this  time 
is  somewhat  doubtful.  In  any  case  Ashurbanipal  was 
unable  to  extend  his  authority  to  Upper  Egypt.  He  had 
hardly  restored  his  supremacy  in  the  Delta  when  his 
rivals  there  again  began  communicating  with  Taharka 
purposing  his  restoration  as  before.  But  this  corre- 
spondence with  Taharka  was  discovered  by  the  Assyrian 
officials  in  Egypt  and  they  were  sent  to  Nineveh  in 
chains.  There  the  wily  Necho,  whom  Esarhaddou  had 


38  CARLISLE 

made  king  of  Sais,  was  able  to  win  the  confidence  of 
Ashurbanipal,  who  pardoned  him,  loaded  him  with 
honors  and  restored  him  to  his  kingdom  in  Sais  while  his 
son  was  appointed  to  rule  Athribis.  At  the  same  time 
Ashurbanipal  accompanied  him  with  Assyrian  officials 
intended,  of  course,  to  be  a  check  upon  his  conduct. 
Taharka  was  now  unable  to  gain  any  further  foothold 
among  the  Assyrian  vassals  in  the  Delta.  He  probably 
held  Thebes,  where  he  controlled  the  fortune  of  Amon  by 
causing  his  sister  Shepnupet  to  be  adopted  by  Amenar- 
dis  the  "Divine  Votress  or  sacerdotal  princess  of  Thebes, 
who  had  been  appointed  by  Piankhi  in  the  same  way. 
At  Napata,  Taharka  built  two  considerable  temples 
and  the  Ethiopian  capital  evidently  became  a  worthy 
royal  residence  in  his  time. 

He  was  an  enterprising  prince  engaged  in  many  wars 
and  a  determined  opponent  of  the  Assyrian.  His  name 
is  read  on  Egyptian  monuments  as  Tahark  or  Torek 
and  his  face  which  appears  on  them  is  expressive  of 
determination.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  his  star  ulti- 
mately paled  but  not  from  any  lack  of  courage  or  resolu- 
tion or  good  faith  on  his  part.  He  struggled  gallantly 
against  the  Assyrian  power  for  above  thirty  years,  was 
never  wanting  to  his  confederates  and  was  among  the 
m'ost  distinguished  monarchs  of  his  race  and  period. 

(Note).  Poselleni  in  exploring  the  tomb  of  a  nurse  of  a  daughter 
of  Taharka  at  Thebes  found  beside  the  mummy  in  a  case  of  wood  a 
bronze  mirror  with  a  cover  which  protected  it  from  the  air  and  turned 
aside  on  a  pin  to  allow  of  its  being  used.  The  polished  surface  of  the 
mirror  retained  enough  of  its  brightness  when  discovered  to  reflect 
the  face. 

Taharka  survived  but  a  few  months  his  appointment 
of  Tanutamon,  a  son  of  Shabaka  as  co-regent,  who  then 
succeeded  to  the  crown  in  663  B.  C. 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  39 


TANUTAMON. 

Encouraged  by  a  favorable  dream  Tanutamon  under- 
took the  recovery  of  Lower  Egypt,  defeated  the  Assyrian 
commander,  retook  Memphis  and  demanded  the  sub- 
mission of  the  Delta  dynasts.  He  had  hardly  settled  in 
Memphis,  when  Ashurbanipal's  army  appeared  and 
drove  the  Ethiopian  for  the  last  time  from  Lower  Egypt. 
The  Assyrians  pursued  him  to  Thebes,  and  as  he  inglori- 
ously  withdrew  southward,  they  sacked  and  plundered 
the  magnificent  capital  of  Egypt's  age  of  splendor. 

As  the  Assyrians  withdrew  from  Thebes,  Tanutamon 
again  entered  the  desolated  city  where  he  maintained 
himself  for  at  least  six  years  more  till  655  B.  C.  By  654 
B.  C.  he  had  disappeared  from  Thebes  whether  by  death 
or  retirement  and  his  disappearance  was  the  termination 
of  Ethiopian  Supremacy  in  Egypt. 

Withdrawing  to  Napata  the  Ethiopians  never  made 
another  attempt  to  subdue  the  kingdom  of  the  Lower 
river  but  gave  their  attention  to  the  development  of 
Nubia.1 

IV. 

THE  MACROBIAN  ETHIOPIANS. 
BY  HERODOTUS. 

Cambyses  planned  three  several  expeditions,  one 
against  the  Carthaginians,  another  against  the  Ammoni- 
ans  and  a  third  against  the  Macrobian  Ethiopians,  who 
inhabit  that  part  of  Libya  which  lies  upon  the  South 
Sea.  In  forming  his  plans,  he  determined  to  send  a  naval 

»  James  Henry  Breasted,  Ancient  Egyptians,  Chap.  XXVI. 


40  CARLISLE 

force  against  the  Carthaginians  and  against  the  Ammon- 
ians,  a  detachment  of  his  land  forces,  and  against  the 
Ethiopians,  spies  in  the  first  instance,  who  were  to  see 
the  table  of  the  sun  which  was  said  to  exist  among  the 
Ethiopians  and  besides  to  explore  other  things,  and  to 
cover  their  design,  they  were  to  carry  presents  to  the 
king.  The  table  of  the  sun  is  said  to  be  of  the  following 
description.  There  is  a  meadow  in  the  suburbs  filled 
with  the  cooked  flesh  of  all  sorts  of  quadrupeds,  in  this 
the  several  magistrates  of  the  city,  for  some  purpose, 
place  the  flesh  at  night,  and  in  the  day  time  whoever 
chooses  comes  and  feasts  on  it.  The  inhabitants  say, 
that  the  earth  itself,  from  time  to  time  produces  these 
things.  Such  is  the  description  given  of  what  is  called 
the  table  of  the  sun.  When  the  Ichthyophagic  spies 
came  to  Cambyses  from  Elephantine,  he  dispatched  them 
to  the  Ethiopians,  having  instructed  them  what  to  say, 
carrying  presents  consisting  of  a  purple  cloak,  a  golden 
necklace,  bracelets,  an  alabaster  box  of  ointment  and  a 
cask  of  palm  wine.  These  Ethiopians,  to  whom  Camby- 
ses sent,  are  said  to  be  the  tallest  and  handsomest  of  all 
men;  and  they  say  that  they  have  customs  different 
from  those  of  other  nations,  and  especially  the  following 
with  regard  to  the  regal  power;  for  they  confer  the 
sovereignty  upon  the  man  whom  they  consider  to  be 
of  the  largest  stature  and  to  possess  strength  proportion- 
able to  his  size. 

When,  therefore  the  Ichthyophagi  arrived  among  this 
people,  they  gave  the  presents  to  the'king,  and  addressed 
him  as  follows:  "Cambyses,  king  of  the  Persians, 
desirous  of  becoming  your  friend  and  ally,  has  sent  us, 
bidding  us  confer  with  you,  and  he  presents"  you  with 
these  gifts,  which  are  such  as  he  himself  most  delights 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  41 

in."  But  the  Ethiopian  knowing  that  they  came  as 
spies  spoke  thus  to  them.  "Neither  has  the  king  of 
Persia  sent  you  with  these  presents  to  me  because  he 
valued  my  alliance;  nor  do  you  speak  the  truth,  for  you 
have  come  as  spies  of  my  kingdom;  nor  is  he  a  just 
man;  for  if  he  were  just,  he  would  not  desire  any 
other  territory  than  his  own;  nor  would  he  reduce 
people  into  servitude  who  have  done  him  no  injury. 
However,  give  him  this  bow,  and  say  these  words  to 
him:  "The  king  of  the  Ethiopians  advises  the  king  of 
the  Persians,  when  the  Persians  can  thus  easily  draw  a 
bow  of  this  size,  then  to  make  war  on  the  Macrobian 
Ethiopians  with  more  numerous  forces;  but  until  that 
time,  let  him  thank  the  gods,  who  have  not  inspired  the 
sons  of  the  Ethiopians  with  a  desire  of  adding  another 
land  to  their  own."  Having  spoken  thus  and  unstrung 
the  bow  he  delivered  it  to  the  comers. 

Then  taking  up  the  purple  cloak  he  asked  what  it  was 
and  how  made;  and  when  the  Ichthyophagi  told  him 
the  truth  respecting  the  purple  and  the  manner  of 
dyeing,  he  said  that  the  men  are  deceptive,  and  their 
garments  are  deceptive  also.  Next  he  inquired  about  the 
necklace  and  bracelets  and  when  the  Ichthyophagi 
explained  to  him  their  use  as  ornaments,  the  king  laugh- 
ing and  supposing  them  to  be  fetters,  said  that  they 
have  stronger  fetters  than  these. 

Thirdly,  he  inquired  about  the  ointment;  and  when 
they  told  him  about  its  composition  and  use,  he  made 
the  same  remark  as  he  had  on  the  cloak.  But  when  he 
came  to  the  wine,  and  inquired  how  it  was  made,  being 
very  much  delighted  with  the  draught,  he  farther  asked 
what  food  the  king  made  use  of  and  what  was  the  longest 
age  to  which  a  Persian  lived.  They  answered  that  he 


42  CARLISLE 

fed  on  bread,  describing  the  nature  of  wheat;  and  that 
the  longest  life  of  a  Persian  was  eighty  years.  Upon 
this,  the  Ethiopian  said  that  he  was  not  at  all  surprised 
if  men  who  fed  on  dung  lived  so  few  years;  and  they 
would  not  be  able  to  live  so  many  years,  if  they  did  not 
refresh  themselves  with  this  beverage  showing  the  wine 
to  the  Ichthyophagi;  for  in  this  he  admitted  they  were 
surpassed  by  the  Persians.  The  Ichthyophagi  inquiring 
in  turn  of  the  king  concerning  the  life  and  diet  of  the 
Ethiopians,  he  said  that  most  of  them  attained  to  a 
hundred  and  twenty  years  and  some  even  exceeded  that 
term,  and  that  their  food  was  boiled  flesh  and  their 
drink  milk.  And  when  the  spies  expressed  astonish- 
ment at  the  number  of  years,  he  led  them  to  a  fountain 
by  washing  in  which  they  became  sleek  as  if  it  had  been 
of  oil,  and  an  odor  proceeded  from  it  as  of  violets.  The 
water  of  this  fountain,  the  spies  said,  is  so  weak  that 
nothing  is  able  to  float  upon  it,  neither  wood  nor  such 
things  as  lighter  than  wood;  but  everything  sinks  to 
the  bottom.  If  this  water  is  truly  such  as  it  is  said  to  be, 
it  may  be  they  are  long  lived  by  reason  of  the  abundant 
use  of  it.  Leaving  this  fountain  he  conducted  them  to 
the  common  prison,  where  all  were  fettered  with  golden 
chains;  for  among  these  Ethiopians  brass  is  the  most  rare 
and  precious  of  all  metals.  After  having  viewed  the 
prison  they  next  visited  that  which  is  called  the  table 
of  the  sun.  After  this  they  visited  last  of  all  their 
sepulchres  which  are  said  to  be  prepared  from  crystal 
in  the  following  manner:  when  they  have  dried  the 
body,  either  as  the  Egyptians  do,  or  in  some  other  way, 
they  plaster  it  all  over  with  gypsum,  and  paint  it  making 
it  as  much  as  possible  resemble  real  life;  they  then  put 
round  it  a  hollow  column  made  of  crystal,  which  they 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  43 

dig  up  in  abundance  and  is  easily  wrought.  The  body 
being  in  the  middle  of  the  column  is  plainly  seen  nor  does 
it  emit  an  unpleasant  smell  nor  is  it  in  any  way  offen- 
sive; and  it  is  all  visible  as  the  body  itself.  The  nearest 
relations  keep  the  column  in  their  houses  for  a  year,  offer- 
ing to  it  the  first  fruits  of  all,  and  performing  sacrifices; 
after  that  time  they  carry  it  out  and  place  it  somewhere 
near  the  city. 

The  spies  having  seen  everything  returned  home; 
and  when  they  had  reported  all  that  had  passed,  Camby- 
ses,  being  greatly  enraged  immediately  marched  against 
the  Ethiopians,  without  making  any  provision  for  the 
subsistence  of  his  army  or  once  considering  that  he  was 
going  to  carry  his  arms  to  the  remotest  part  of  the  world; 
but  as  a  madman  and  not  in  possession  of  his  senses,  as 
soon  as  he  heard  the  report  of  the  Ichthyophagi,  he  set 
out  on  his  march,  ordering  the  Greeks,  who  were  present 
to  stay  behind  and  taking  with  him  all  his  land  forces. 
When  the  army  reached  Thebes,  he  detached  about 
fifty  thousand  men,  and  ordered  them  to  reduce  the 
Ammonians  to  slavery,  and  to  burn  the  oracular  temple 
of  Jupiter,  while  he  with  the  rest  of  his  army,  marched 
against  the  Ethiopians,  but  before  the  army  had  passed 
over  a  fifth  part  of  the  way  all  the  provisions  that  they 
had  were  exhausted,  and  after  the  provisions,  the  beasts 
of  burden  were  eaten,  and  likewise  failed.  Now  if 
Cambyses,  when  he  learned  this,  had  altered  his  purpose, 
and  had  led  back  his  army  even  after  his  first  error,  he 
would  have  proved  himself  to  be  a  wise  man;  but  now 
without  any  reflection,  he  still  continued  advancing. 
The  soldiers,  as  long  as  they  could  gather  any  from  the 
earth  supported  life  by  eating  herbs;  but  when  they 
reached  the  sands  some  of  them  had  recourse  to  a  horrid 


44  CARLISLE 

expedient,  for,  taking  one  man  in  ten  by  lot  they 
devoured  him.  When  Cambyses  heard  this,  shocked 
at  their  eating  one  another,  he  abandoned  his  expedition 
against  the  Ethiopians,  marched  back  and  reached 
Thebes,  after  losing  a  great  part  from  his  army.  From 
Thebes,  he  went  down  to  Memphis,  and  suffered  the 
Greeks  to  sail  away.  This  ended  the  expedition  against 
the  Ethiopians.1 

V. 

NEGRO-EGYPTIAN    PHARAOHS 

AMENOPHITES  AND   THOTMESITES   NEW 

EMPIRE. 

XVII.     THEBAN  DYNASTY. 

The  Ethiopians  and  Egyptians  being  closely  allied,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  we  find  a  marked  Negro  caste  among 
the  latter  who  were  but  another  African  people  and 
between  whom  there  was  but  slight  physical  differences. 
Their  intermarriages  so  blending  the  types  that  there 
was  no  line  of  division  between  them,  especially  was  this 
true  of  the  ruling  caste. 

All  sculptures  and  monuments  of  the  earliest  peoples 
are  predominantly  negroid.  Royal  heads  four  thousand 
years  old  belonging  to  the  fourth  dynasty  recently 
unearthed  are  undoubtedly  of  Negro  origin.  Hence, 
Egyptian  history  is  Negro  history  as  we  have  abun- 
dant proof  from  the  earliest  dynasties  through  Egypt's 
age  of  splendor,  the  royal  line  was  strongly  imbued 
with  the  blood  of  the  Negro,  therefore  we  have  chosen 
the  name  Negro-Egyptian  as  most  fitting  for  the  Phara- 
ohs of  the  seventeenth  dynasty,  especially. 

»3ook  III.  17-26. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  45 

Piankhi  who  won  the  title  of  Pharaoh  by  conquest  was 
the  first  ruler  of  Egypt  of  pure  Negro  blood.  He  was 
the  father  of  Tirhakra,  mentioned  in  our  Bible,  the 
sound  of  whose  name  awed  the  great  Sennacherib. 
These  names  and  many  others  with  which  our  readers 
will  become  familiar  should  be  precious  to  us  as  they 
represent  men  who  were  our  very  own,  bone  of  our  bone 
and  flesh  of  our  flesh.  What  Cromwell  was  to  the 
English,  Napoleon  to  the  French,  these  great  Negro- 
Egyptian  Pharaohs  were  to  the  African  Negroes. 

This  period  about  1700  B.  C.  begins  with  the  reign 
of  Aahmes,  Amasis  a  native  Egyptian,  who  is  credited 
with  the  expulsion  of  the  Hyksos  with  whom  he  warred 
five  years.  These  wars  concluded  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  regions  south  of  Egypt  and  led  an  expedition 
against  them.  At  first  he  swept  everything  before  him 
and  victory  seemed  certain,  but  the  Negroes  were  not 
such  easy  prey.  A  Nubian  chief,  Teta-an,  rallied  forces 
and  went  out  and  forced  Aahmes  back,  retook  the 
regions  of  the  south  and  destroying  the  temples  of  the 
Egyptian  garrisons  and  annihilating  the  Egyptian 
power."  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  struggle, 
lasting  until  the  twenty-first  year  of  the  reign  of  Amasis 
who  was  finally  victorious  and  took  Teta-an  prisoner. 
Much  credit  is  due  this  chief  and  his  army  in  their  deter- 
mined resistance  to  retain  the  control  of  their  territory. 

Aahnes  having  established  Egyptian  control  over  the 
country  between  the  First  and  Second  Cataract,  gave 
himself  to  domestic  affairs  and  began  to  repair  the 
temples  and  other  sacred  edifices.  His  reign  covered 
twenty-five  years.  He  married  an  Ethiopian  princess 
and  conferred  upon  her  the  throne  name  of  Nefert-ari- 
Aahmes,  "the  beautiful  companion  of  Aahmes."  Her 


46  CARLISLE 

complexion  was  of  ebon  blackness.  This  beautiful 
Cushite  princess  became  his  favorite  wife  and  the 
mother  of  succeeding  Pharoahs.  She  is  called,  "the 
daughter,  sister,  wife  and  mother  of  a  king."  This 
alliance  between  Aahmes  and  Nefert-ari  was  not  merely 
a  political  one.  "His  queen  was  certainly  regarded  as 
an  important  personage.  She  was  called  "the  wife  of 
the  god  Ammon,"  and  enjoyed  some  high  post  con- 


AAHMBS-NOFRE-ABI. 

nected  with  the  worship  of  that  god  with  Thebes; 
Aahbes  commemorated  her  upon  his  monuments; 
during  her  son's  reign  she  held  for  a  time  the  reins 
of  power;  while  in  after  ages  she  was  venerated  as 
"ancestress  and  founder  of  the  eightieth  dynasty." 
Amenhotek  I  the  son  and  successor  of  Aahmes  reigned 
under  the  tutelage  of  his  mother,  continued  the  Ethiopian 
campaigns  and  embellished  Thebes.  He  was  first  of  the 
line  of  Negro-Egyptian  Pharaohs.  He  was  a  mother's 
son  of  Cush,  whose  maternal  grandsires  were  full  blooded 
Negroes  "of  the  best  physical  type."  He  associated 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO 


47 


his  mother,  the  beautiful  black  queen,  with  himself  in 
government.  On  his  monuments  his  mother  shares  a 
place  equal  with  his  own.  "She  is  joined  with  him  in 
the  worship  of  the  gods;  and  she  is  "the  lady  of  the 
two  lands"  as  he  is  lord  of  them."  Amenophis  married 
an  Egyptian  lady,  his  son  by  her  he  named  Thotmes. 
The  reign  of  Thotmes  I  was  marked  as  the  period  of 
Egypt's  first  attempt  to  carry  arms  into  Asia  and  thus 
retaliate  against  the  oppression  she  suffered  from  the 
Hyksos  which  resulted  in  a  spirit  of  military  activity 
and  conquest  covering  three  centuries  and  raised  it  to 
its  zenith.  Thothmes  I  not  only  extended  his  dominions 
in  the  south  but  led  successive  campaigns  into  Asia.  On 
his  return  to  Egypt  he  proceeded  to  enlarge  and  embel- 


AAHMBS. 


THOTMBS  L 


lish  the  temple  of  Ammon  at  Thebes  in  return  for  the 
victories  which  this  god  was  supposed  to  have  made 
possible  for  him.     His  reign  is  supposed  to  have  been 
twenty-one  years. 
Thotmes  married  Aahmes,  thought  to  be  his  sister,  by 


48  CARLISLE 

whom  he  had  a  daughter  and  two  sons,  Hasheps  or  Hat- 
asu,  the  sons,  having  the  same  name  as  their  father, 
Thotmes  II  and  Thotmes  III  and  great  grand  children 
of  Aahmes  and  Nefert-ari-Aahmes. 

The  reign  of  Thotmes  II  was  uneventful  except  for 
an  expedition  against  the  Arabs.  His  sister  Hatasu, 
being  more  ambitious  for  power  and  having  an  influence 
over  him  was  permitted  to  share  his  throne  and  virtually 
directed  the  affairs  of  government.  Together  they 
made  additions  to  the  temples.  Thotmes  II 's  brief  reign 
ended,  Hasheps  became  sole  ruler,  and  in  every  way  as  a 
king — masculine  of  mind,  she  donned  male  attire  and 


THOTMJS  IL 

the  title  of  a  king.  Her  young  brother  was  hardly  more 
than  a  subject.  She  erected  many  buildings  of  elegant 
taste  —  obelisks  at  Thebes  in  the  temple  of  Ammon  — 
statues  of  herself  in  various  places  and  extended  her 
sovereignty  over  the  land  of  Punt  by  means  of  a  naval 
expedition  which  returned  to  Egypt  laden  with  the 
wealth  of  the  country.  She  tardily  acknowledged  the 


THE    ANCIENT   NEGRO  49 

majority  of  her  brother  and  reluctantly  gave  him  recog- 
nition as  sovereign  by  allowing  his  name  to  appear  on 
public  monuments;  after  having  held  absolute  control 
of  the  government  for  fifteen  years.  A  woman  of 
wonderful  executive  ability,  yet  unscrupulous  in  her 
lust  for  power,  her  reign  compared  favorably  with  that 
of  preceding  Pharaohs.  Her  reign  as  co-regent  with 
Thotmes  III  was  about  seven  years.  As  great-grand- 
daughter of  the  Ethiopian  queen  Nefert-ari-Ahames, 
she  deserves  an  honored  place. 

THOTMES  III. 

Thotmes  III  was  beyond  doubt  the  greatest  of  Negro- 
Egyptian  Pharaohs  and  Conquerors  and  has  been  called 


THOTXXS  III. 


"the  Alexander  of  Egyptian  history."  He  led  an 
expedition  into  Western  Asia  forced  the  states  to  pay 
him  tribute  and  to  acknowledge  his  suzerainty.  He 
carried  on  at  least  eight  successive  campaigns  with  the 


$0  CARLISLE 

states  of  Asia  covering  a  period  from  his  twenty-third 
to  his  fortieth  year.  "Ambitious,  restless,  brave  even 
to  rashness,  equally  remarkable  as  a  warrior  and  as  a 
general  successful  in  his  naval  no  less  than  in  his  mili- 
tary operations  he  spread  the  name  and  fame  of  Egypt 
through  distant  lands  alarmed  the  great  empires  of 
Western  Asia  conquered  and  held  in  subjection  all 
Syria  and  Western  Mesopotamia  as  far  as  the  Khabour 
River,  probably  reduced  Cyprus,  chastised  the  Arabs, 
crushed  rebellion  in  Nubia,  and  left  to  his  successor 
a  dominion  extending  above  eleven  hundred  miles  from 
north  to  south,  and  (in  places)  four  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  west  to  east.  At  the  same  time  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  a  builder.  Restorer  or  founder 
of  a  score  of  temples,  designer  of  the  great  "Hall  of 
Pillars"  at  Thebes,  by  far  the  largest  apartment  that 
the  world  has  as  yet  seen,  erector  of  numerous  gigantic 
obelisks,  constructor  and  adorner  of  vast  propylaea, 
author  or  restorer  of  at  least  five  huge  colossi,  he  has 
left  the  impress  of  his  presence  in  Egypt  more  widely 
than  almost  any  other  of  her  kings  while  at  the  same  time 
he  has  supplied  to  the  great  capitals  of  the  modern  world 
their  most  striking  Egyptian  monuments. 

Thotmes  III  died  after  a  reign  of  fifty-four  years, 
probably  at  about  the  age  of  sixty."1 

AMENOPHIS  II. 

Amenophis  II  son  of  Thotmes  III,  succeeded  his  father 
on  the  throne  and  found  it  necessary  to  put  down  rebel- 
lion in  the  states  of  Asia  who,  as  was  common  at  that 
period,  renounced  their  allegiance  to  Egypt  upon  the 

1  Rawlinson's  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  259-260. 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  51 

death  of  Thotmes  and  assumed  their  independence. 
Amenophis  is  said  to  have  re-established  Egyptian  power 
in  all  the  countries  previously  subdued  by  his  father, 
this  alone  was  no  small  task  and  must  have  kept  him 
busily  employed.  His  architecture  is  said  to  be  far 
inferior  to  that  of  his  predecessors.  His  reign  was  of 
short  duration.  His  son  who  succeeded  him  on  the 


THOTHM  IV. 


AMUKOPH  II. 


throne  took  the  name  of  Thotmes  that  of  his  grandfather 
and  was  known  as  Thotmes  IV.  He  was  not  the  eldest 
son  of  Amenophis  but  was  his  father's  immediate  succes- 
sor which  he  attributed  to  some  special  favor  of  the  god 
Hanuachis,  this  god  having  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream. 
In  some  way  associating  Hanuachis  with  the  sphinx,  he 
dug  away  the  accumulation  of  sand  at  its  base,  "set  up 
between  the  fore  paws  of  the  Sphinx  a  massive  memorial 
tablet  twelve  feet  high  and  eight  feet  broad  on  which  he 
recorded  the  circumstances  of  his  dream.  In  front  of  his 
memorial  tablet  and  also  within  the  paws  of  the  mon- 


52  CARLISLE 

strous  animal  he  Thotmes  constructed  a  small  temple 
for  the  worship  of  the  god  with  whom  he  identified  it. 
One  expedition  against  the  Hittites  of  Syria  and  another 
against  the  Cushites  or  people  of  Ethiopia  are  all  that 
can  be  assigned  to  him.  The  former  he  commemorated 
in  the  great  temple  of  Ammon  at  Thebes,  the  latter  in 
the  Nubian  temple  of  Amada." 

He  was  a  great  sportsman,  his  favorite  game  was  the 
lion  hunt,  a  fondness  for  swift  horses  that  "outstripped 
the  wind"  according  to  his  own  statement.1 

AMENOPHIS  III. 

Thotmes  IV  married  a  foreigner,  an  Ethiopian  or 
Cushite,  named  Maut-Hemwa  by  whom  he  had  a  son, 
Amen-hotep  or  Amenophis  who  succeeded  him.  Ameno- 
phis  III  married  a  foreigner,  Taia  who  was  an  Ethiopian. 
Amenophis  was  deeply  attached  to  his  mother,  Queen 
Maut-Hemwa  and  later  to  his  wife,  Queen  Taia  whose 
advice  and  counsel  he  sought  and  acted  upon.  He  gave 
little  attention  to  military  enterprise,  the  boundaries  of 
Egypt  remained  the  same  as  when  he  inherited  the  throne 
but  his  building  activities  more  than  made  up  the 
deficit.  He  began  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  to  exca- 
vate stone  for  the  repair  of  temples  and  throughout  his 
reign  of  thirty  six  years,  his  zeal  seemed  untiring  in  the 
erection  of  magnificent  buildings  which  have  been  of 
greater  attraction  to  travellers  than  those  of  any  other 
Pharaoh.  Amenophis  erected  the  great  temple  of 
Ammon  at  Luxor,  one  of  the  most  magnificent  in  all 
Egypt,  embellished  that  of  Karnak  with  a  new  propylon, 
built  two  new  temples  to  Ammon  and  Maut  and  united 

1  Rawlinson's  anc.  Egypt  Vol.  II. 


THE    ANCIENT   NEGRO 


53 


the  whole  quarter  of  the  temples  at  Karnak  with  the 
new  temple  of  Ammon  at  Luxor  by  an  avenue  of  crio- 
sphinxes  with  the  sun's  disk  on  their  heads  (there  was  a 
leaning  to  this  worship  by  Amenophis).  He  also  built 
two  temples  to  Knephor  Khnum  (gods)  at  Elephantine, 


AMTJNOPH  IIL     Mention. 


MAUT-HBMWA. 


one  to  contain  his  own  image  at  Soleb  in  Nubia,  a  shrine 
with  a  propylon  and  ram-sphinxes  before  it  at  Gebel 
Berkal  or  Napata  and  another  shrine  at  Sedinga.  In- 
scribed tablets  dated  in  his  reign  are  found  at  Semneh 
in  the  island  of  Konosso  on  the  rocks  between  Philae 
and  Asscuan,  at  El-Kaab  at  Silsilis  and  at  Sarabit- 
el-Khadim  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula.  Of  all  his  edifices 
that  which  approved  itself  the  most  highly  in  his  own 
eyes  was  the  temple  or  rather,  perhaps,  the  temple-palace 
of  Luxor.  "  I  built  on  the  rocky  soil,"  he  says,  "  a  court 
of  alabaster,  of  rose  granite  and  of  black  stone.  Also  a 
double  tower  gateway  did  I  execute,  because  I  had  under- 
taken to  dedicate  the  most  beautiful  thing  possible  to 


54 


CARLISLE 


my  divine  father  "  (i.  e.  Ammon).  Statues  of  the  gods 
are  to  be  seen  in  it  everywhere.  They  are  carved  in  all 
their  parts.  A  great  statue  was  made  of  gold  and  of  all 
kinds  of  beautiful  precious  stones.  I  gave  directions  to 
execute  O  Ammon,  what  pleased  thee  well  to  unite  thee 
with  thy  beautiful  dwelling."1 


TAIA. 


His  most  remarkable  work  was  the  twin  colossi, 
two  gigantic  statues  sitting,  of  the  Pharaoh  cut  out  of 
one  solid  block  of  stone  and  between  60  and  70  feet  high. 
One  has  been  called  "vocal  Memnon"  because  of  a 
musical  sound  that  issued  from  it  at  day  break,  supposed 
to  have  been  caused  by  a  fissure  in  the  rock,  caused 
perhaps  by  earthquake,  together  with  the  action  of  the 
sun's  rays  upon  it. 

This  statue  was  repaired  by  Septimus  Severus,  A.  D. 
196. 

Amenophis  III  was  a  kind  and  benevolent  ruler,  crime 

1  Rawlinson's  An.  Egypt,  Vol.  II. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  55 

was  punished  with  justice,  while  loyalty  was  often  liber- 
ally rewarded.  Amenophis  reigned  thirty-six  years.  He 
was  survived  by  his  Queen  Taia. 

NOTE. — In  the  Theban  tomb,  there  was  an  amazing  collection  of 
Negro  Scenes.  A  Negress,  apparently  a  princess,  arrives  at  Thebes 
drawn  in  a  plastrum  by  a  pair  of  humped  oxen.  The  driver  and 
groom  are  Egyptians,  perhaps  eunuchs.  Following  her,  are  multi- 
tudes of  Negroes  bringing  tribute  from  the  Upper  country  and 
slaves  —  red  and  black,  Egyptian  and  Negro  —  of  both  sexes.  They 
have  come  to  make  offerings  in  the  tomb  of  a  "  royal  son  of  Kush," 
Amenoph  or  Amenophis,  and  no  doubt  this  princess  is  Queen  Taia. 


AMUNOJH  IV. 


His  son,  Amenhotep  IV,  succeeded  him  to  the  throne. 
He  was  the  founder  of  the  "  Disk  Heresy,"  or  the  worship 
of  the  sun's  disk.  Before  this  new  form  of  worship  was 
firmly  implanted  the  influence  of  the  priesthood  was 
successful  in  winning  back  to  an  extent,  the  adherents 
of  the  old  form  and  Amenhotep  found  it  necessary  to 
quit  Egypt.  He  set  up  an  independent  kingdom 


56  CARLISLE 

between  Thebes  and  Memphis,  Khu-aten,  he  beautified 
it  with  temples  and  monuments  and  with  a  large  num- 
ber of  followers,  reigned  twelve  years  in  unbroken  peace. 
His  mother  was  made  a  permanent  resident  of  his  court 
and  enjoyed  all  the  honors  due  queen  mother.  To  his 
wife  he  was  greatly  devoted.  "Sweet  love  fills  my 
heart,"  he  says  in  one  inscription,  "for  the  queen  and  for 
her  young  children.  Grant  a  long  life  of  many  years 
to  the  Queen  Nefert  Tii;  may  she  keep  the  hand  of 
Pharaoh!  Grant  a  long  life  to  the  royal  daughter, 
Meri-Aten,  and  to  the  royal  daughter  Mak-Aten  and 
to  their  children.  May  they  keep  the  hand  of  the  queen, 
their  mother,  eternally  and  forever.  What  I  swear  is 
a  true  avowal  of  what  my  heart  says  to  me.  Never  is 
there  falsehood  in  what  I  say."1 

VI. 
How  MOSES  MADE  WAR  WITH  THE  ETHIOPIANS. 

When  Moses  came  to  the  age  of  maturity  he  made  his 
virtues  manifest  to  the  Egyptians  and  showed  them  he 
was  born  for  bringing  them  down  and  raising  the  Israel- 
ites. And  the  occasion  he  laid  hold  of  was  this:  The 
Ethiopians  who  were  next  neighbors  to  the  Egyptians 
made  an  inroad  into  their  country  which  they  seized 
upon  and  carried  off  the  effects  of  the  Egyptians,  who  in 
their  rage  fought  against  them  and  revenged  the  affronts 
they  had  received  from  them;  but  being  overcome  in 
battle  some  of  them  were  slain  and  the  rest  ran  away  in 
a  shameful  manner  and  by  that  means  saved  themselves 
whereupon  the  Ethiopians  followed  after  them  in  the 
pursuit;  and  thinking  it  would  be  a  mark  of  cowardice 

J  Rawlinson's  An.  E.  Vol.  II. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  57 

if  they  did  not  subdue  all  Egypt,  they  went  on  to 
subdue  the  rest  with  greater  vehemence;  and  when  they 
had  tasted  the  sweets  they  never  left  of  the  prosecution 
of  the  war;  and  as  the  nearest  parts  had  not  courage 
enough,  at  first,  to  fight  with  them  they  proceeded  as  far 
as  Memphis  and  the  sea  itself  while  not  one  of  the  cities 
was  able  to  oppose  them.  The  Egyptians  under  this 
sad  oppression  betook  themselves  to  their  oracles  and 
prophecies,  and  when  God  had  given  them  this  counsel 
to  make  use  of  Moses,  the  Hebrew,  and  take  his  assist- 
ance, the  king  commanded  his  daughter  to  produce  him, 
that  he  might  be  the  general  of  the  army.  Upon  which, 
when  she  had  made  him  swear  he  would  do  him  no  harm, 
she  delivered  him  to  the  king  and  supposed  his  assistance 
would  be  of  great  advantage  to  them.  She  withal, 
reproached  the  priest,  who,  when  he  had  before  admon- 
ished the  Egyptians  to  kill  him,  was  not  ashamed  to  own 
their  want  of  his  help.  So  Moses,  at  the  persuasion  of 
Thermuthis  and  the  king  himself,  cheerfully  undertook 
the  business ;  and  the  sacred  scribes  of  both  nations  were 
glad,  those  of  the  Egyptians  that  they  would  once  more 
overcome  their  enemies  by  his  valor  and  that  by  the 
same  piece  of  management  Moses  would  be  slain;  but 
those  of  the  Hebrews  that  they  should  escape  from  the 
Egyptians  because  Moses  was  to  be  their  general. 
But  Moses  prevented  the  enemies  and  took  and  led  his 
army  before  those  enemies  were  apprised  of  his  attack- 
ing them;  for  he  did  not  march  by  the  river,  but  by  land, 
where  he  gave  a  wonderful  demonstration  of  his  sagacity; 
for  when  the  ground  was  difficult  to  be  passed  over 
because  of  the  multitude  of  serpents,  which  it  produces 
in  vast  numbers  and  indeed  is  singular  in  some  of  those 
productions  which  other  countries  do  not  breed  and  yet 


58  CARLISLE 

such  as  are  worse  than  others  in  power  and  mischief  and 
an  unusual  fierceness  of  sight,  some  of  which  ascend 
out  of  the  ground  unseen  and  also  fly  in  the  air  and 
so  come  upon  men  at  unawares,  and  do  them  a  mis- 
chief, Moses  invented  a  wonderful  stratagem  to  preserve 
the  army  safe  and  without  hurt;  for  he  made  baskets, 
like  unto  arks,  of  sedge  and  filled  them  with  ibes,  and 
carried  them  along  with  them;  which  animal  is  the 
greatest  enemy  to  serpents,  imaginable,  for  they  fly 
from  them  when  they  come  near  them,  and  as  they 
fly,  they  are  caught  and  devoured  by  them  as  if  it  were 
done  by  the  harts;  but  the  ibes  are  tame  creatures  and 
only  enemies  to  the  serpentine  kind.  As  soon  therefore, 
as  Moses  was  come  to  the  land  which  was  the  breeder 
of  these  serpents,  he  let  loose  the  ibes;  and  by  their 
means  repelled  the  serpentine  kind  and  used  them  for 
his  assistants  before  the  army  came  upon  the  ground. 
When  he  had  then  proceeded  thus  on  his  journey  he 
came  upon  the  Ethiopians  before  they  expected  him; 
and  joining  battle  with  them  he  beat  them  of  the  hopes 
they  had  of  success  against  the  Egyptians  and  went  on 
in  overthrowing  their  cities  and  indeed  made  a  great 
slaughter  of  these  Ethiopians.  Now  when  the  Egyp- 
tian army  had  once  tasted  of  this  prosperous  success, 
by  the  means  of  Moses,  they  did  not  slacken  their  dili- 
gence insomuch  that  the  Ethiopians  were  in  danger  of 
being  reduced  to  slavery  and  all  sorts  of  destruction  and 
at  length  they  retired  to  Saba  which  was  a  royal  city  of 
Ethiopia  and  Cambyses  afterward  named  Meroe  after 
the  name  of  his  own  sister.  The  place  was  to  be  beseiged 
with  very  great  difficulty  since  it  was  both  encompassed 
by  the  Nile,  quite  round  and  the  other  rivers,  Asapus  and 
Astaborus,  made  it  a  very  difficult  thing  for  such  as 
attempted  to  pass  over  them;  for  the  city  was  situated 


THE    ANCIENT   NEGRO  59 

in  a  retired  place  and  was  inhabited  after  the  manner  of 
an  island,  being  encompassed  with  a  strong  wall  and 
having  the  rivers  to  guard  from  their  enemies  and  having 
great  ramparts  between  the  wall  and  the  rivers,  insomuch 
that  when  the  waters  came  with  the  greatest  violence  it 
can  never  be  drowned;  which  ramparts  make  it  next  to 
impossible,  for  even  such  as  are  gotten  over  the  rivers  to 
take  the  city.  However,  while  Moses  was  uneasy  at  the 
army's  lying  idle,  for  the  enemies  durst  not  come  to  battle, 
Tharbis,  who  was  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Ethio- 
pians, happened  to  see  Moses  as  he  led  the  army  near  to 
the  walls;  and  fought  with  great  courage,  and  admiring 
the  subtility  of  his  undertaking  and  believing  him  to  be 
the  author  of  the  Egyptian  success  when  they  had  before 
despaired  of  recovering  their  liberty,  and  to  the  occasion 
of  the  great  danger  the  Ethiopians  were  in  when  they  had 
before  boasted  of  their  great  achievements,  she  fell  deeply 
in  love  with  him  and  upon  the  prevalency  of  that  passion 
sent  to  him  the  most  faithful  of  all  her  servants  to  dis- 
course with  him  upon  their  marriage. 

He  thereupon  accepted  the  offer  on  condition  she 
would  procure  the  delivering  up  of  the  city  and  gave  the 
assurance  to  take  her  to  be  his  wife,  and  that  when  he 
had  once  taken  possession  of  the  city  he  would  not  break 
his  oath  to  her.  No  sooner  was  the  agreement  made  — 
it  took  effect  immediately;  and  when  Moses  had  cut 
off  the  Ethiopians,  he  gave  thanks  to  God  and  consum- 
mated his  marriage  and  led  the  Egyptians  back  to  their 
own  land.1 

NOTE.  The  history  of  Moses  as  general  of  the  Egyptians  against 
the  Ethiopians  is  wholly  omitted  in  the  Bible  but  is  thus  cited  by 
Iraneus  from  Josephus  and  that  soon  after  his  ownage,  Josephus 

»  Josephus  Aut.  Book  II.  Chap.  V,  p.  93. 


60  CARLISLE 

says  that  when  Moses  was  nourished  in  the  king's  palace  he  was 
appointed  general  of  the  army  against  the  Ethiopians  and  conquered 
them;  when  he  married  the  king's  daughter,  because  out  of  her 
affection  for  him,  she  delivered  the  city  up  to  him.  Nor  perhaps, 
did  St.  Stephen  refer  to  anything  else  when  he  said  of  Moses,  before 
he  was  sent  by  God  to  the  Israelites  that  he  was  not  only  learned  in 
all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians  but  was  also  mighty  in  words  and  in 
deeds.1 


VII. 
How  MOSES  FLED  OUT  OF  EGYPT  INTO  MIDIAN. 

Now  the  Egyptians  after  they  had  been  preserved  by 
Moses,  entertained  a  hatred  toward  him,  as  suspecting 
that  he  would  take  occasion  from  his  good  success  to 
raise  a  sedition,  and  bring  innovations  into  Egypt,  and 
told  the  king  he  ought  to  be  slain.  The  king  had  also 
some  intentions,  of  himself,  to  the  same  purpose  and  this 
as  well  out  of  envy  at  his  glorious  expedition  at  the  head 
of  his  army  as  out  of  fear  of  being  brought  low  by  him, 
and  being  instigated  by  the  sacred  scribes,  he  was  ready 
to  undertake  to  kill  Moses.  But  when  he  had  learned 
beforehand  what  plots  there  were  against  him  he  went 
away  privately;  and  because  the  public  roads  were 
watched,  he  took  his  flight  through  the  deserts  and  where 
his  enemies  could  not  suspect  he  would  travel;  and 
though  he  was  destitute  of  food  he  went  on  and  despised 
that  difficulty  courageously.  And  when  he  came  to  the 
city  of  Midian  which  lay  upon  the  Red  Sea  and  was  so 
occasion  offered  him  by  the  custom  of  the  country,  of 
doing  what  recommended  his  virtue  and  afforded  him 
an  opportunity  of  bettering  his  circumstances. 

For  that  country  having  but  little  water,  the  shepherds 

i  Acts.  VII-22  (Whiston). 


THE    ANCIENT   NEGRO  6 1 

used  to  seize  on  the  wells,  before  others  came,  lest  their 
flocks  should  want  water,  and  lest  it  should  be  spent 
by  others  before  they  came.  There  were  now,  therefore, 
to  this  well  seven  sisters  that  were  virgins,  the  daughters 
of  Raguel,  a  priest,  and  one  thought  worthy,  by  the  people 
of  the  country,  of  great  honor;  these  virgins  who  took 
care  of  their  father's  flock,  which  sort  of  work  it  was 
customary  and  very  familiar  for  women  to  do  in  the 
country  of  the  Troglodites,  they  came  first  of  all  and 
drew  water  out  of  the  well  in  a  quantity  sufficient  for 
their  flocks,  into  troughs  which  were  made  for  the  recep- 
tion of  that  water.  But  when  the  shepherds  came 
upon  the  maidens  and  drove  them  away  that  they 
might  have  the  command  of  the  waters  themselves, 
Moses,  thinking  it  would  be  a  terrible  reproach  upon 
him  if  he  overlooked  the  young  women  under  unjust 
oppression  and  should  suffer  the  violence  of  the  men 
to  prevail  over  the  right  of  the  maidens,  he  drove  away 
the  men  who  had  a  mind  to  more  than  their  share  and 
afforded  a  proper  assistance  to  the  women  who,  when 
they  had  received  such  a  benefit  from  him,  came  to 
their  father  and  told  him  how  they  had  been  affronted 
by  the  shepherds,  and  assisted  by  a  stranger  and  en- 
treated that  he  would  not  let  this  generous  action  be 
done  in  vain,  nor  go  without  a  reward.  Now  the  father 
took  it  well  from  his  daughters  that  they  were  so  desirous 
to  reward  their  benefactor,  and  bid  them  bring  Moses 
into  his  presence,  that  he  might  be  rewarded  as  he 
deserved.  And  when  Moses  came  he  told  him  what 
testimony  his  daughters  bare  to  him,  that  he  had  assisted 
them;  and  that  as  he  admired  him  for  his  virtue  he  said 
that  Moses  had  bestowed  such  assistance  on  persons, 
not  insensible  of  benefits,  but  where  they  were  both 


62  CARLISLE 

willing  and  able  to  return  the  kindness  and  even  to 
exceed  the  measure  of  his  generosity.  So  he  made  him 
his  son,  and  gave  him  one  of  his  daughters  in  marriage; 
(Ex.  II-2i)  and  he  appointed  him  to  be  the  guardian 
and  superintendent  over  his  cattle,  for  of  old  all  the 
wealth  of  the  barbarians  was  in  those  cattle.1 

So  Moses,  when  he  understood  that  the  Pharaoh,  in 
whose  reign  he  fled  away  was  dead,  asked  leave  of  Raguel 
to  go  to  Egypt  for  the  benefit  of  his  own  people;  and 
he  took  with  him  Zipporah,  the  daughter  of  Raguel, 
whom  he  had  married  and  the  children  he  had  by  her, 
Gersom  and  Eleazar,  and  made  haste  into  Egypt.2 


VIII. 
MOSES    RECEIVES    JETHRO,    HIS    FATHER-IN-LAW. 

Now  when  Raguel,  Moses's  father-in-law  understood 
in  what  a  prosperous  condition  his  affairs  were  he  wil- 
lingly came  to  meet  him;  and  Moses  took  Zipporah,  his 
wife  and  his  children  and  pleased  himself  with  his 
coming.  And  when  he  had  offered  sacrifice  he  made  a 
feast  for  the  multitude  near  the  bush  he  had  formerly 
seen;  which  multitude,  every  one  according  to  their 
families  partook  of  the  feast.  But  Aaron  and  his 
family  took  Raguel  and  sang  hymns  to  God  as  to  him 
who  had  been  the  author  and  procurer  of  their  deliver- 
ance and  freedom.  They  also  praised  their  conductor 
as  by  him  whose  virtue  it  was  that  all  things  had  suc- 
ceeded so  well  with  them.  Raguel  also  in  his  eucharisti- 

•Josephus,  Book  II,  Chap.  XI. 
'•  Josephus,  Book  II,  Chap.  XIII. 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  63 

cal  oration  to  Moses,  made  great  encomiums  upon  the 
whole  multitude;  and  he  could  not  but  admire  Moses,  for 
his  fortitude  and  that  humanity  he  had  shown  in  the 
deliverance  of  his  friends.1 

The  next  day  as  Raguel  saw  Moses  in  the  midst  of  a 
crowd  of  business,  (for  he  determined  the  differences  of 
those  that  referred  them  to  him)  everyone  still  going  to 
him  and  supposing  that  they  should  then  only  obtain 
justice,  if  he  were  the  arbitrator;  and  those  that  lost 
their  causes  thought  it  no  harm,  while  they  thought  they 
lost  them  justly  and  not  by  partiality.  Raguel,  how- 
ever, said  nothing  to  him  at  the  time  as  not  desirous  to 
be  any  hindrance  to  such  as  had  a  mind  to  make  use  of  the 
virtue  of  their  conductor.  But  afterward  he  took  him 
to  himself  and  when  he  had  him  alone  he  instructed  him 
in  what  he  ought  to  do,  and  advised  him  to  leave  the 
trouble  of  lesser  causes  to  others,  but  himself  to  take 
care  of  the  greater  and  of  the  people's  welfare,  for  that 
certain  others  of  the  Hebrews  might  be  found  that  were 
fit  to  determine  causes,  but  that  nobody  but  a  Moses 
could  take  care  of  the  safety  of  so  many  ten  thousands. 
Be  not  therefore  insensible  of  thine  own  virtue  and  what 
thou  hast  done  by  ministering  under  God  to  the  people's 
preservation.  Permit,  therefore,  the  determination  of 
common  causes  to  be  done  by  others,  but  do  thou  reserve 
thyself  to  the  attendance  on  God  only;  and  look  out 
for  methods  of  preserving  the  multitude  from  their 
present  distress.  Make  use  of  the  method  I  suggest  to 
you  as  to  human  affairs,  and  take  a  review  of  the  army 
and  appoint  chosen  rulers  over  tens  of  thousands  and 
then  over  thousands;  then  divide  them  into  five  hun- 

>  Josephus,  Book  III ,  Chap.  III. 


64  CARLISLE 

dreds,  and  again  into  hundreds  and  into  fifties,  and 
set  rulers  over  each  of  them,  who  may  distinguish  them 
into  thirties  and  keep  them  in  order,  and  at  last  number 
them  by  twenties  and  by  tens;  and  let  there  be  one 
commander  over  each  number  to  be  denominated  from 
the  number  of  those  over  whom  they  are  rulers  but  these 
such  as  the  whole  multitude  have  tried  and  do  approve 
as  being  good  and  righteous  men;  and  let  these  rulers 
decide  the  controversies  they  have  one  with  another. 
But  if  any  great  cause  arise  let  them  bring  the  cognizance 
of  it  before  the  rulers  of  a  higher  dignity;  but  if  any 
great  difficulty  arise  that  is  too  hard  for  even  their 
determination  let  them  send  it  to  thee.  By  these  means 
two  advantages  will  be  gained:  that  the  Hebrews  will 
have  justice  done  and  thou  wilt  be  able  to  attend  con- 
stantly upon  God  and  procure  him  to  be  more  favorable 
to  the  people. 

This  was  the  admonition  of  Raguel;  and  Moses  re- 
ceived his  advice  very  kindly  and  acted  according  to 
his  suggestion.  Nor  did  he  conceal  the  invention  of 
this  method  nor  pretend  to  it  himself,  but  informed  the 
multitude  who  it  was  that  invented  it,  nay,  he  has  named 
Raguel  in  the  books  he  wrote  as  the  person  who  invented 
this  ordering  of  the  people  as  thinking  it  right  to  give 
true  testimony  to  worthy  persons,  although  he  might 
have  gotten  reputation  by  ascribing  to  himself  the  in- 
ventions of  other  men. 

Whence  we  may  learn  the  virtuous  disposition  of  Moses.1 

NOTE.  This  manner  of  electing  the  judges  and  officers  of  the 
Israelites  by  the  testimonies  and  suffrages  of  the  people  before  they 
were  ordained  by  God  or  by  Moses  deserves  to  be  carefully  noted 
because  it  was  the  pattern  in  the  like  manner  of  the  choice  and  ordi- 
nation of  Bishops,  Presbyters  and  Deacons  in  the  Christian  church. 
(Whistm). 

i  Jos.  Book  III.  Chap.  IV. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  65 

IX. 

THE  QUEEN  or  SHEBA. 

There  was  then  a  woman  queen  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia; 
she  was  inquisitive  into  philosophy  and  one  that  on 
other  accounts  was  to  be  admired.  When  this  queen 
heard  of  the  virtue  and  prudence  of  Solomon,  she  had 
a  great  mind  to  see  him,  she  being  desirous  to  be  satis- 
fied by  her  own  experience  and  not  by  bare  hearing  (for 
reports  thus  heard  are  likely  enough  to  comply  with  a 
false  opinion  while  they  wholly  depend  on  the  credit  of 
the  relaters) ;  so  she  resolved  to  come  to  him,  and  that 
especially  in  order  to  have  a  trial  of  his  wisdom  while  she 
proposed  questions  of  very  great  difficulty  and  entreated 
that  he  would  solve  their  hidden  meaning.  Accord- 
ingly she  came  to  Jerusalem  with  rich  splendor,  and  rich 
furniture;  for  she  brought  with  camels  laden  with  gold, 
with  several  sorts  of  sweet  spices  and  with  precious 
stones.  Now  upon  the  king's  kind  reception  of  her,  he 
both  showed  a  great  desire  to  please  her,  and  easily 
comprehending  in  his  mind  the  meaning  of  her  curious 
questions  she  propounded  to  him  he  resolved  them 
sooner  than  any  one  could  have  expected,  so  she  was 
amazed  at  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  discovered  that 
it  was  more  excellent  upon  trial  than  what  she  had 
heard  by  report  beforehand;  and  especially  she  was 
surprised  at  the  fineness  and  largeness  of  his  royal  palace, 
and  not  less  at  the  good  order  of  the  apartments  for  she 
observed  that  the  king  had  therein  shown  great  wisdom; 
but  she  was  beyond  measure  astonished  at  the  house 
which  was  called  the  forest  of  Lebanon  as  also  at  the 
magnificence  of  his  daily  table,  and  the  circumstances 
of  its  preparation  and  ministration  with  the  apparel  of 
his  servants  that  waited,  and  the  decent  management  of 


66  CARLISLE 

their  attendance  nor  was  she  less  affected  with  those 
daily  sacrifices  which  were  offered  to  God  and  the 
careful  management  which  the  priests  and  Levites  used 
about  them.  When  she  saw  this  done  every  day  she 
was  in  the  greatest  admiration  imaginable,  insomuch 
that  she  was  not  able  to  contain  the  surprise  she  was  in, 
but  openly  confessed  how  wonderfully  she  was  affected; 
for  she  proceeded  to  discourse  with  the  king  and  thereby 
owned  that  she  was  overcome  with  admiration  at  the 
things  before  related;  and  said,  "all  things,  indeed  O 
king,  that  came  to  our  knowledge  by  report,  came  with 
uncertainty  as  to  our  belief  of  them;  both  such  as  thou, 
thyself  possessed,  I  mean  wisdom  and  prudence,  and  the 
happiness  thou  hast  from  thy  kingdom,  certainly  the 
fame  that  came  to  us  was  no  falsity;  it  was  not  only  a 
true  report,  but  it  related  thy  happiness  after  a  much 
lower  manner,  than  I  now  see  it  before  my  eyes.  For 
as  for  the  report  it  only  attempted  to  persuade  our 
hearing,  but  did  not  so  make  known  the  dignity  of  the 
things  themselves  as  does  the  sight  of  them,  and  being 
present  among  them  I  indeed,  who  did  not  believe  what 
was  reported  by  reason  of  the  multitude  and  grandeur 
of  the  things  I  inquired  about,  do  see  them  to  be  much 
more  numerous,  than  they  were  reported  to  be.  Ac- 
cordingly I  esteem  the  Hebrew  people  as  well  as  thy 
servants  and  friends  to  be  happy,  who  enjoy  thy  pres- 
ence, hear  thy  wisdom  every  day,  continually.  One 
would  therefore  bless  God  who  hath  so  loved  this  coun- 
try and  those  that  inhabit  therein  as  to  make  thee  king 
over  them." 

Now  when  the  queen  had  thus  demonstrated  how 
deeply  the  king  had  affected  her,  her  disposition  was 
known  by  certain  presents,  for  she  gave  him  twenty 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  67 

talents  of  gold,  and  an  immense  quantity  of  spices  and 
precious  stones.  (They  say  also  that  we  possess  the 
root  of  that  balsam  which  our  country  still  bears  by  this 
woman's  gift.)  Solomon  also  repaid  her  with  many 
good  things  and  principally  by  bestowing  upon  her 
what  she  chose  of  her  own  inclination,  for  there  was 
nothing  she  desired  which  he  denied  her  and  as  he  was 
very  generous  and  liberal  in  his  own  temper  so  did  he 
show  the  greatness  of  his  soul  in  bestowing  on  her  what 
she  herself  desired  of  him. 

So  when  this  queen  of  Ethiopia  had  obtained  what  we 
have  already  given  an  account  of  and  had  again  com- 
municated to  the  king  what  she  brought  with  her,  she 
returned  to  her  own  kingdom. 

X. 

CARTHAGE. 

Carthage  is  said  to  have  been  founded  nearly  900 
years  before  the  Christian  Era  by  Dido,  with  a  colony 
of  Tyrians.  The  government,  at  first  monarchical, 
became  afterwards  republican,  and  it  is  commended  by 
Aristotle  as  one  of  the  most  perfect  of  antiquity.  The 
two  chief  magistrates  called  suffetes  or  judges  were 
elected  annually  from  the  first  families.  The  religion 
was  a  cruel  superstition  and  human  victims  were  offered 
in  sacrifice. 

In  the  time  of  the  Punic  wars,  Carthage  was  the  most 
commercial  and  wealthy  city  and  one  of  the  most  splen- 
did in  the  world.  It  had  under  its  dominion  about  300 
smaller  towns  in  Africa  bordering  on  the  Mediterranean, 
a  great  part  of  Spain,  also  of  Sicily  and  other  islands. 
The  Carthaginians  worked  the  gold  mines  of  Spain, 


68  CARLISLE 

they  were  devoted  to  commerce  and  had  the  vices  and 
characteristics  of  a  commercial  people.  The  Romans, 
who  were  their  rivals  and  enemies,  represented  them  as 
wanting  in  integrity  and  honor,  hence  the  ironical  phrase 
Punica  fides  [Punic  faith]  to  denote  treachery. 

The  Periphes,  or  voyage  of  Hanuo,  an  illustrious 
Carthaginian  who  wrote  an  account  of  his  expedition 
affords  proof  of  ardent  enterprise.  Carthage  produced 
several  celebrated  generals,  among  whom  were  Hamil- 
car,  Hasdrubal  and  Hannibal;  the  last,  the  most  formid- 
able enemy  that  Rome  ever  experienced.1 

The  most  distinguished  Carthaginian  commander  in 
the  first  Punic  war  was  Hamilcar  who  was  the  father  of 
Hannibal,  and  who  trained  his  son  to  war  and  made  him 
swear  a  perpetual  enmity  to  the  Roman  name.  Hanni- 
bal was  one  of  the  greatest  generals  of  antiquity  and  at 
the  early  age  of  twenty-six  was  raised  to  the  command 
of  the  Carthaginian  army.  He  commenced  the  second 
Punic  war  by  besieging  Saguntum,  a  city  of  Spain,  in 
alliance  with  the  Romans.  After  a  siege  of  seven  months, 
the  desperate  inhabitants  set  fire  to  the  city  and  perished 
in  the  flames.  Hannibal  now  formed  the  bold  design  of 
carrying  the  war  into  Italy  and  by  an  arduous  and  toil- 
some march  he  led  his  army  over  the  Pyrenees  and  after- 
wards over  the  Alps,  without  halting,  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  exploits  of  which  there  is  any  record;  and 
though  having  lost  30,000  men,  rushed  into  Italy  and 
gained  four  great  victories.  The  first  over  Scipio,  near 
the  Tici-mus;  the  second  over  Sempronions  near  the 
Trebia;  and  the  third  over  Flaminius  near  the  Lake 
Thrasmenus;  and  the  fourth  over  ^Emilius.  Among 

i  Worcester  Sec.  IV,  p.  69. 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  69 

the  slain  were  5,000  or  6,000  Roman  knights,  the  greater 
part  of  the  whole  body.  The  last  was  the  most  memor- 
able defeat  the  Romans  ever  suffered.  According  to 
Livy  50,000  and  according  to  Polybius  no  less  than 
70,000  of  their  troops  were  left  dead  upon  the  field 
together  with  the  consul  ^Emilius,  and  Hannibal  is 
said  to  have  sent  to  Carthage  three  bushels  of  gold  rings 
which  they  wore  on  their  fingers. 


HANNIBAL. 

Hannibal  has  been  censured  for  not  making  the  best 
of  his  great  victory  by  immediately  attacking  Rome, 
and  instead  of  doing  this  for  leading  his  troops  into 
winter  quarters  at  Capua  where  they  were  corrupted 
and  enervated  by  dissipation  in  that  luxurious  city. 

The  Romans  being  now  guided  by  the  counsels  of  the 
sagacious  and  prudent  Fabius  Maximus  concentrated 
their  strength. 


70  CARLISLE 

The  chief  command  of  their  armies  was  given  to 
Fabius,  styled  the  shield,  and  to  Marcellus,  the  sword  of 
Rome.  The  good  fortune  of  Hannibal  now  forsook  him 
and  he  remained  13  years  in  Italy  after  the  battle  of 
Canne,  without  gaining  any  signal  advantage.  At 
the  siege  of  Nola  was  repulsed  by  Marcellus  with  con- 
siderable loss,  and  his  army  was  harassed  and  weakened 
by  Fabius. 

Syracuse,  which  had  taken  part  with  Carthage,  was 
besieged  by  Marcellus  and  after  being  defended  for  three 
years,  by  the  inventive  genius  of  the  celebrated  mathe- 
matician, Archimedes,  it  was  at  last  compelled  to 
surrender. 

This  event  put  an  end  to  the  kingdom  of  Syracuse, 
which  now  became  a  part  of  the  Roman  province  of 
Sicily.  A  large  army  of  Carthaginians  was  sent  from 
Spain,  into  Italy  under  the  command  of  Asdrubal,  the 
brother  of  Hannibal,  who  was  defeated  with  great 
slaughter  by  the  Romans  under  the  command  of  the 
consuls,  Livy  and  Nero,  near  the  small  river  Metaurus, 
which  empties  into  the  Tyrrhem  sea. 

Scipio,  afterwards  surnamed  Africanus,  having  con- 
quered Spain,  passed  over  into  Africa,  with  a  Roman 
army  and  carried  havoc  and  devastation  to  the  walls  of 
Carthage. 

Alarmed  for  the  fate  of  their  empire  the  Carthaginians 
immediately  recalled  Hannibal  from  Italy.  These  two 
great  commanders,  Hannibal  and  Scipio  at  the  head  of 
their  respective  armies  fought  in  the  plains  of  Zama,  a 
memorable  battle  in  which  the  Carthaginians  were 
totally  defeated.  A  peace  soon  followed  the  conditions 
of  which  were  that  Carthage  should  abandon  Spain, 
Sicily  and  all  the  other  islands  in  the  Mediterranean, 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  Jl 

surrender  all  their  prisoners,  give  up  their  whole  fleet 
except  ten  galleys  and  in  future  undertake  no  war  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Romans.  This  terminated  the 
second  Punic  war,  in  the  humiliation  of  Carthage  after 
having  continued  for  17  years.  Hannibal  afterwards 
fled  from  his  country  and  passed  the  last  thirteen  years 
of  his  life  in  Syria  and  Bithynia.  During  his  exile, 
Scipio  resided  a  while  in  the  same  country  and  many 
friendly  conversations  passed  between  them.  In  one 
of  which  the  Roman  is  said  to  have  asked  the  Cartha- 
ginian whom  he  thought  the  greatest  general,  Hannibal 
immediately  replied  "Alexander,  because  that  with  a 
small  body  of  men,  he  had  defeated  very  numerous 
armies  and  had  overrun  a  great  part  of  the  world." 
"And  who  do  you  think  deserves  the  next  place?"  con- 
tinued the  Roman .  ' '  Pyrrhus ' '  replied  the  other ;  "  he  first 
taught  the  method  of  forming  a  camp  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. Nobody  knew  better  how  to  post  guards 
more  properly."  "And  whom  do  you  place  next  to  those?  " 
said  Scipio.  "  Myself,"  said  Hannibal  at  which  Scipio 
asked  with  a  smile,  "Where  then  would  you  have  placed 
yourself  if  you  had  conquered  me?"  "Above  Alex- 
ander," replied  the  Carthaginian,  "above  Pyrrhus  and 
above  all  other  generals."1 


HANNIBAL'S  TREATY. 

IV.  Treaty  concluded  between  Hannibal,  general  of  the 
Carthagenians,  and  Phillip  king  of  Macedonia,  in  the 
fourth  year  of  the  second  Punic  war,  215  B.  C.2 

i  Worcester,  Sec.  V.  p.  72. 

*  From  Polyb.  II,  p.  598;  Hieren  Ap.  p.  483. 


72  CARLISLE 

This  is  the  treaty  which  Hannibal  the  general,  Mago, 
Myrcan,  Barmocar  and  all  the  senators  of  Carthage 
that  were  with  him,  and  all  the  Carthaginians  that  are 
in  the  army  with  him  have  sworn  with  Xenophams, 
the  son  of  Chomachus,  the  ambassador  deputed  by  king 
Phillip,  the  son  of  Demetrius,  in  his  own  name,  and  in 
the  name  of  the  Macedonians  and  their  allies. 

In  the  presence  of  Jupiter,  Juno  and  Apollo;  in  the 
presence  of  the  deity  of  the  Carthaginians,  and  of 
Hercules  and  lolaus,  in  the  presence  of  Mars,  Triton, 
and  Poseidon;  in  the  presence  of  all  the  gods  who  are 
with  us  in  the  camp  and  of  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the 
earth;  in  the  presence  of  the  rivers,  the  lakes,  and  the 
waters;  in  the  presence  of  all  the  gods  who  preside  over 
the  state  of  Carthage  in  the  presence  of  all  the  gods  who 
preside  over  the  Macedonian  empire,  and  the  rest  of 
Greece;  in  the  presence  of  all  the  gods  who  direct  the 
affairs  of  this  war,  and  who  are  witnesses  of  the  faith; 
Hannibal,  the  general  and  all  the  senators  of  Carthage 
that  are  with  him  and  all  the  Carthaginians  that  are 
in  the  army  with  him,  have  said,  with  the  consent  of 
you  and  of  us,  this  treaty  of  amity  and  concord  shall 
connect  us  together  as  friends,  as  kindred,  and  as  brothers 
upon  the  following  conditions: 

King  Phillip  and  the  Macedonians,  together  with  the 
rest  of  the  Greeks  that  are  in  alliance  with  them  shall 
protect  and  help  the  people  of  Carthage,  Hannibal  the 
general,  and  those  that  are  with  him;  the  governors  in 
every  place  in  which  the  laws  of  Carthage  are  observed; 
the  people  of  Utica,  and  all  the  cities  and  nations  that 
are  subject  to  the  Carthaginian  sway,  together  with 
their  armies  and  their  allies;  the  cities  likewise  and  all 
the  people  with  whom  we  are  allied,  in  Italy,  in  Gaul 


THE   ANCIENT    NEGRO  73 

and  in  Liguria;  and  all  those  that  shall  hereafter  enter 
into  friendship  and  alliance  with  us  in  those  countries. 
The  Carthaginians,  on  the  other  hand,  the  people  of 
Utica  and  all  the  other  cities  and  states  that  are  subject 
to  the  Carthaginians,  with  their  allies  and  armies,  the 
cities  also  and  all  the  people  of  Italy,  of  Gaul  and  of 
Liguria,  that  are  at  this  time  in  alliance  with  us,  and 
all  others  likewise  that  shall  hereafter  be  received  into 
our  alliance  in  any  of  those  parts  of  Italy;  shall  protect 
and  defend  king  Phillip  and  the  Macedonians,  together 
with  the  rest  of  the  Greeks  that  are  in  alliance  with 
them.  We  will  not  engage  in  any  ill  designs  or  employ 
any  kind  of  treachery  the  one  against  the  other.  But 
with  all  alacrity  and  willingness,  without  any  deceit 
or  fraud,  you,  the  Macedonians  shall  declare  yourselves 
the  enemies  of  those  that  are  enemies  of  the  Carthagin- 
ians; those  kings  alone  excepted,  and  those  parts  and 
cities,  with  which  you  are  connected  by  any  treaty. 
And  we  also  on  the  other  hand,  will  be  the  enemies  of 
those  that  are  enemies  of  King  Phillip;  those  kings  and 
cities  and  nations  alone  excepted,  to  which  we  are  already 
bound  by  treaty.  You  shall  be  partners  also  with  us  in 
the  war,  in  which  we  are  now  engaged  against  the 
Romans;  till  the  gods  give  to  you  and  to  us  a  happy 
peace.  You  shall  supply  us  with  the  assistance  that  is 
requisite,  and  in  the  manner  that  shall  be  stipulated 
between  us.  And  if  the  gods,  refusing  success  to  our 
endeavors,  in  the  war  against  the  Romans  and  their 
allies  should  dispose  us  to  enter  into  treaty  with  them, 
we  shall  insist,  that  you  also  be  included  in  the  treaty, 
and  that  the  peace  be  made  upon  these  expressed  condi- 
tions; that  the  Romans  shall  at  no  time  make  war 
against  us;  that  they  shall  not  remain  masters,  Corcyra, 


74  CARLISLE 

Apollonia,  Epidanenus,  Pharos,  Dimalle  and  Atintania. 
And  that  they  shall  restore  also  to  Demetrius  of  Pharos, 
all  the  persons  of  his  kindred,  who  are  now  detained  in 
public  custody  at  Rome.  If  the  Romans  shall  after- 
wards make  war  either  against  you  or  us,  we  will  mu- 
tually send  such  assistance  as  shall  be  requisite  to  either 
party.  The  same  thing  also  will  we  perform  if  any  other 
power  shall  declare  war  against  us;  those  cities  and 
states  alone  excepted  with  which  we  are  allied  by  treaty. 
If  at  any  time  it  should  be  judged  expedient  to  add  to  the 
present  treaty  or  to  detract  from  it,  it  shall  be  done 
with  mutual  consent. 

NOTE.  Hannibal  was  at  this  time  in  Lower  Italy  and  hoped  by 
this  union  with  Phillip,  who  was  to  invade  Italy  by  crossing  the 
Adriatic  Sea,  to  annihilate  Rome. 

About  fifty  years  after  the  conclusion  of  the  second 
Punic  war,  the  Carthaginians  attempted  to  repel  the 
Numidians  who  made  incursions  into  a  territory  claimed 
by  the  former.  The  Romans,  pretending  this  was  a 
violation  of  their  treaty  laid  hold  of  it  as  a  pretext  for 
commencing  the  third  Punic  war,  with  a  determination 
to  effect  the  entire  destruction  of  Carthage.  Porcius 
Cata,  the  censor,  who  now  swayed  the  decisions  of  the 
senate,  had  long  cherished  this  savage  design  and  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  concluding  his  speeches  with  this 
expression  "Delenda  est  Carthage,"  "Carthage  must  be 
destroyed." 

The  Carthaginians  conscious  of  their  inability  to 
resist  the  Romans  offered  every  submission  and  were 
ready  to  acknowledge  themselves  subjects  of  Rome. 
They  yielded  up  to  the  Romans,  their  ships,  their  arms, 
and  munitions  of  war.  They  were  then  required  to 
abandon  the  city  in  order  that  it  might  be  destroyed. 


THE   ANCIENT    NEGRO  75 

This  demand  was  heard  by  the  inhabitants  with  a  mixed 
feeling  of  indignation  and  despair;  but  the  spirit  of 
liberty  and  independence  not  being  yet  extinct  they  were 
roused  to  make  the  most  strenuous  effort,  having  resolved 
to  sacrifice  their  lives  rather  than  to  obey  the  barbarous 
mandate. 

After  the  most  desperate  resistance  for  three  years,  the 
city  was  at  last  taken  by  Scipio,  the  second  Africanus,  and 
being  set  on  fire,  the  flames  continued  to  rage  during 
1 7  days.  Thus  was  Carthage  with  its  walls  and  buildings 
razed  to  its  foundations.  Such  of  the  inhabitants  as 
disdained  to  surrender  themselves  prisoners  of  war  were 
either  massacred  or  perished  in  the  flames.  The  scenes 
of  horror  were  such  as  to  force  tears  even  from  the 
Roman  general. 

A  new  Carthage  arose  from  its  ruins,  with  the  title  of 
a  colony ;  and  though  Carthage  might  yield  to  the  royal 
perogative  of  Constantinople  and  perhaps  to  the  trade 
of  Alexandria  or  the  splendor  of  Antioch,  she  still  main- 
tained the  second  rank  in  the  West;  as  the  Rome  of  the 
African  world. 

That  wealthy  and  opulent  metropolis  displayed  in  a 
dependent  condition  the  image  of  a  flourishing  republic. 
Carthage  contained  the  manufactures,  the  arms  and  the 
treasures  of  the  six  provinces.  A  regular  subordination 
of  civil  honors,  gradually  ascended  from  the  chief  pro- 
curators of  streets  and  quarters  of  the  city  to  the  tribu- 
nal of  the  supreme  magistrate,  who  with  the  title  of 
proconsul,  represented  the  state  dignity  of  a  consul  of 
ancient  Rome.  Schools  and  gymnasia  were  instituted 
for  the  education  of  the  African  youth;  and  the  liberal 
arts  and  manners,  grammar,  rhetoric  and  philosophy  were 
publicly  taught  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages.  The 


76  CARLISLE 

buildings  of  Carthage  were  uniform  and  magnificent. 
A  shady  grove  was  planted  in  the  midst  of  the  capital, 
the  new  port,  a  secure  and  capacious  harbor  was  sub- 
servient to  the  commercial  industry  of  citizens  and 
strangers;  and  the  splendid  games  of  the  circus  and 
theatre  were  exhibited  almost  in  the  presence  of  the 
barbarians. 

The  reputation  of  the  Carthaginians  was  not  equal  to 
that  of  their  country  and  the  reproach  of  Punic  faith 
still  adhered  to  their  subtle  and  faithless  character.  The 
habits  of  trade  and  the  abuse  of  luxury  had  corrupted 
their  manners.  In  439  A.  D.  they  were  surprised  by  the 
Vandals  and  reduced  to  a  state  of  servitude.1 


XL 

SEPTIMUS  SEVERUS.      (NEGRO  EMPEROR  OF 
ROME). 

From  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
CHAPTER  V. 

The  country  of  Pannonia  and  Dalmatia  which  occu- 
pied the  space  between  the  Danube  and  the  Hadriatic 
was  one  of  the  last  and  most  difficult  conquests  of  the 
Romans.  In  the  defence  of  national  freedom  two  hun- 
dred thousand  of  the  barbarians  had  once  appeared  in 
the  field,  alarmed  the  declining  age  of  Augustus  and 
exercised  the  vigilant  prudence  of  Tiberius  at  the  head 
of  the  collected  force  of  the  Empire.  The  Pannonians 
yielded  at  length  to  the  arms  and  institutions  of  Rome. 

i  Gibbon's  Rome,  p.  259. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  77 

Their  recent  subjection,  however,  the  neighborhood  and 
even  the  mixture  of  the  unconquered  tribes  and  perhaps 
the  climate  adapted  as  it  has  been  observed,  to  the  pro- 
duction of  great  bodies  and  slow  minds  all  contributed 
to  preserve  some  remains  of  their  original  ferocity  and 
under  the  tame  and  uniform  countenance  of  Roman 
provincials  the  hardy  features  of  the  natives  were  still 
to  be  discerned.  Their  warlike  youth  afforded  an  inex- 
haustible supply  of  recruits  to  the  legions  stationed  on 
the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  which  from  a  perpetual 
warfare  against  the  Germans  and  Samartians  were 
deservedly  esteemed  the  best  troops  in  the  service. 

The  Pannonian  army  was  at  this  time  commanded  by 
Septimus  Severus,  a  native  African,  who  in  the  gradual 
ascent  of  private  honors  had  concealed  his  daring  ambi- 
tion, which  was  never  diverted  from  its  steady  course  by 
the  allurements  of  pleasure,  the  apprehension  of  danger 
or  the  feelings  of  humanity.  On  the  first  news  of  the 
murder  of  Pertinax  he  assembled  his  troops  painted  in  the 
most  lively  colors,  the  crime,  the  insolence  and  the  weak- 
ness of  the  Praetorian  Guards,  and  animated  the  legions 
to  arms  and  to  revenge.  He  concluded,  and  the  perora- 
tion was  thought  extremely  eloquent,  with  promising  every 
soldier  about  four  hundred  pounds;  an  honorable  dona- 
tive double  in  value  to  the  infamous  bribe  with  which 
Julian  had  purchased  the  empire.  The  acclamations  of 
the  army  immediately  saluted  Severus,  with  the  names  of 
Augustus  Pertinax  and  Emperor  and  he  (A.  D.  193  April 
1 3th)  thus  attained  the  lofty  station  to  which  he  was  in- 
vited by  conscious  merit,  and  a  long  train  of  dreams 
and  omens,  the  fruitful  offspring  either  of  his  superstition 
or  policy. 

The  new  candidate  for  empire  saw  and  improved  the 


78  CARLISLE 

peculiar  advantage  of  his  situation.  His  province 
extended  to  the  Julian  Alps  which  gave  an  easy  access 
into  Italy;  and  he  remembered  the  saying  of  Augustus 
that  a  Pannonian  army  might  in  ten  days  appear  in 
sight  of  Rome,  by  a  celerity  proportioned  to  the  great- 
ness of  the  occasion  he  might  reasonably  hope  to  re- 
venge Pertinax,  punish  Julian  and  receive  the  homage 
of  the  senate  and  people  as  their  lawful  emperor,  before 
his  competitors,  separated  from  Italy  by  a  vast  tract 
of  sea  and  land,  were  apprised  of  his  success  or  even  of 
his  election.  During  the  whole  expedition  he  scarcely 
allowed  himself  any  moments  for  food  or  sleep;  march- 
ing on  foot  and  in  complete  armor  at  the  head  of  his 
columns  he  insinuated  himself  into  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  his  troops  pressed  their  diligence,  revived 
their  spirits,  animated  their  hopes  and  was  well  satisfied 
to  share  the  hardships  of  the  meanest  soldier  whilst  he 
kept  in  view  the  infinite  superiority  of  his  reward. 

The  wretched  Julian  had  thought  himself  prepared 
to  dispute  the  empire  with  the  governor  of  Syria  but  in 
the  invincible  and  rapid  approach  of  the  Pannonian 
legions  he  saw  his  inevitable  ruin.  The  hasty  arrival 
of  every  messenger  increased  his  just  apprehensions. 
He  was  successively  informed  that  Severus  had  passed 
the  Alps;  that  the  Italian  cities  unwilling  or  unable  to 
oppose  his  progress  had  received  him  with  the  warmest 
professions  of  joy  and  duty;  that  the  important  place 
of  Ravenna  had  surrendered  without  resistance  and  that 
the  Hadriatic  fleet  was  in  the  hands  of  the  conqueror. 
The  enemy  was  now  within  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
of  Rome;  and  every  moment  diminished  the  narrow 
span,  life  and  empire  allotted  Julian. 

He  attempted,  however,  to  prevent  or  at  least  to 
protract  his  ruin.  He  implored  the  venal  faith  of  the 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  79 

Praetorians,  filled  the  city  with  unavailing  preparations 
for  war;  drew  lines  round  the  suburbs  and  even  strength- 
ened the  fortifications  of  the  palace;  as  if  those  last  in- 
trenchments  could  be  defended  without  hope  of  relief 
against  a  victorious  invader.  Fear  and  shame  pre- 
vented the  guards  from  deserting  his  standard;  but 
they  trembled  at  the  name  of  Pannonian  legions,  com- 
manded by  an  experienced  general  and  accustomed  to 
vanquish  the  barbarians  on  the  frozen  Danube.  They 
quitted  with  a  sigh  the  pleasures  of  the  baths  and  theatres 
to  put  on  arms  whose  use  they  had  almost  forgotten 
and  beneath  the  weight  of  which  they  were  oppressed. 

The  unpractised  elephants  whose  uncouth  appear- 
ance it  was  hoped  would  strike  terror  into  the  army  of 
the  north  threw  their  unskillful  riders;  and  the  awkward 
evolutions  of  the  marines,  drawn  from  the  fleet  of 
Misenum  were  an  object  of  ridicule  to  the  populace; 
whilst  the  Senate  enjoyed  with  secret  pleasure  the 
distress  and  weakness  of  the  usurper. 

Every  motion  of  Julian  betrayed  his  trembling  per- 
plexity. He  insisted  that  Severus  should  be  declared 
a  public  enemy  by  the  senate.  He  intreated  that  the 
Pannonian  general  might  be  associated  to  the  empire. 
He  sent  public  ambassadors  to  negotiate  with  his  rival; 
he  dispatched  private  assassins  to  take  away  his  life. 
He  designed  that  the  Vestal  Virgins  and  all  the  colleges 
of  priests  in  the  sacerdotal  habits  and  bearing  before 
them  the  sacred  pledges  of  the  Roman  religion,  should 
advance  in  solemn  procession  to  meet  the  Pannonian 
legions  and  at  the  same  time  he  vainly  tried  to  interro- 
gate, or  to  appease  the  fates,  by  magic  ceremonies  and 
unlawful  sacrifices.1 

Hist.  August  p.  62-63. 


80  CARLISLE 

Severus  who  dreaded  neither  his  arms  nor  his  enchant- 
ments guarded  himself  from  the  only  danger  of  secret 
conspiracy,  by  the  faithful  attendance  of  six  hundred 
chosen  men,  who  never  quitted  his  person  or  their 
cuirrasses  either  by  night  or  by  day  during  the  whole 
march.  Advancing  with  a  steady  and  rapid  course  he 
passed  without  difficulty  the  denies  of  the  Apennine, 
received  into  his  party  the  troops  and  ambassadors 
sent  to  retard  his  progress  and  made  a  short  halt  at  Inter- 
amia  about  seventy  miles  from  Rome.  His  victory  was 
already  secure ;  but  the  despair  of  the  Praetorians  might 
have  rendered  it  bloody;  and  Severus  had  the  laudable 
ambition  of  ascending  the  throne  without  drawing  the 
sword.  His  emissaries  dispersed  in  the  capital,  assured 
the  guards,  that  provided  they  would  abandon  their 
worthless  prince  and  the  perpetrators  of  the  murder  of 
Pertinax,  to  the  justice  of  the  conqueror,  he  would 
no  longer  consider  that  melancholy  event  as  the  act 
of  the  whole  body.  The  faithless  Praetorians  whose 
resistance  was  supported  only  by  sullen  obstinacy, 
gladly  complied  with  the  easy  conditions,  seized  the 
greatest  part  of  the  assassins  and  signified  to  the  senate 
that  they  no  longer  defended  the  cause  of  Julian.  That 
assembly  convoked  by  the  consul  unanimously  acknowl- 
edged Severus  as  lawful  emperor,  decreed  divine  honors 
to  Pertinax  and  pronounced  a  sentence  of  deposition 
and  death  against  his  unfortunate  successor.  Julian 
was  conducted  into  a  private  apartment  of  the  baths  of 
the  palace  (A.  D.  193,  June  2)  beheaded  as  a  common 
criminal  after  having  purchased  with  an  immense 
treasure  an  anxious  and  precarious  reign  of  only  sixty- 
six  days.1 

i  Dion.  LXXIII,  p.  1240.     Herodian  III,  p.  83.     Hist.  August,  p.  63. 


THE   ANCIENT   NEGRO  8l 

Severus  covered  a  distance  of  eight  hundred  miles  in 
forty  days  or  twenty  miles  a  day  without  halt  or  inter- 
mission. The  almost  incredible  expedition  of  Severus, 
who  in  so  short  a  space  of  time,  conducted  a  numerous 
army  from  the  banks  of  the  Danube  to  those  of  the  Tyber, 
proves  at  once  the  plenty  of  provisions  produced  by  ag- 
riculture and  commerce,  the  goodness  of  roads,  the 
discipline  of  the  legions  and  the  indolent,  subdued  temper 
of  the  provinces. 

The  first  cares  of  Severus  were  bestowed  on  two  meas- 
ures, the  one  dictated  by  policy,  the  other  by  decency; 
the  revenge  and  the  honors  due  to  the  memory  of 
Pertinax.  Before  the  new  emperor  entered  Rome  he 
issued  his  commands  to  the  Praetorian  Guards  directing 
them  to  wait  his  arrival  on  a  large  plain  near  the  city, 
without  arms  but  in  the  habits  of  ceremony  in  which 
they  were  accustomed  to  attend  their  sovereign.  He 
was  obeyed  by  those  haughty  troops,  whose  contrition 
was  the  effect  of  their  just  terrors.  A  chosen  part  of  the 
Illyrian  army  encompassed  them  with  levelled  spears. 
Incapable  of  flight  or  resistance  they  expected  their 
fate  in  silent  consternation.  Severus  mounted  the 
tribunal,  sternly  reproached  them  with  perfidy  and 
cowardice,  dismissed  them  with  ignominy  from  the 
trust  which  they  had  betrayed,  despoiled  of  their  splen- 
did ornaments,  and  banished  them  upon  pain  of  death, 
to  the  distance  of  a  hundred  miles  from  the  capital. 
During  the  transaction  another  detachment  had  been 
sent  to  seize  their  arms,  occupy  their  camp  and  prevent 
the  hasty  consequences  of  their  despair.1 

The  funeral  and  consecration  of  Pertinax  was  next 
solemnized  with  every  circumstance  of  sad  magnificence. 

1  Dion  i.  LXXIV,  p.  1241.     Herodian  I.  II,  p.  84. 


82  CARLISLE 

The  senate  with  a  melancholy  pleasure,  performed  the 
last  rites  to  excellent  prince,  whom  they  had  loved  and 
still  regretted.  The  concern  of  his  successor  was  proba- 
bly less  sincere.  He  esteemed  the  virtues  of  Pertinax 
but  those  virtues  would  forever  have  confined  his  ambi- 
tion to  a  private  station.  Severus  pronounced  his 
funeral  oration,  with  studied  eloquence,  inward  satis- 
faction and  well  acted  sorrow;  and  by  this  pious  regard 
to  his  memory  convinced  the  credulous  multitude  that 
he  alone  was  worthy  to  supply  his  place.  Sensible, 
however,  that  arms,  not  ceremony  must  assert  his  claim 
to  the  empire,  he  left  Rome  at  the  end  of  thirty  days, 
and  without  suffering  himself  to  be  elated  by  this  easy 
victory  prepared  to  encounter  his  more  formidable  rivals. 
The  uncommon  abilities  and  fortune  of  Severus  have 
induced  an  elegant  historian  to  compare  him  with  the 
first  and  greatest  of  the  Caesars.1 

In  less  than  four  years  (A.  D.  193-197)  Severus  sub- 
dued the  riches  of  the  east  and  the  valor  of  the  west. 
He  vanquished  two  competitors  of  reputation  and  ability 
and  defeated  numerous  armies,  provided  with  weapons 
and  discipline  equal  to  his  own.  In  that  age  the  art  of 
fortification  and  the  principles  of  tactics  were  well  under- 
stood by  all  the  Roman  generals ;  and  the  constant  supe- 
riority of  Severus  was  that  of  an  artist  who  uses  the 
same  instruments  with  more  skill  and  industry  than  his 
rivals.  I  shall  not,  however,  enter  into  a  minute  narra- 
tive of  these  operations ;  but  as  the  two  civil  wars  against 
Niger  and  against  Albiuns  were  almost  the  same  in 
their  conduct,  event  and  consequences,  I  shall  collect 
into  one  point  of  view  the  most  striking  circumstances, 

i  Herodias,  i.  Ill,  p.  112. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  83 

tending  to  develop  the  character  of  the  conqueror  and 
the  state  of  the  empire. 

Falsehood  and  insincerity,  unsuitable  as  they  seem 
to  the  dignity  of  public  transactions  offend  us  with  a  less 
degrading  idea  of  meanness,  than  when  they  are  found 
in  the  intercourse  of  private  life.  In  the  latter  they  dis- 
cover a  want  of  courage;  in  the  other  only  a  defect  of 
power;  and  as  it  is  impossible  for  the  most  able  states- 
man to  subdue  millions  of  followers  and  enemies  by  their 
own  personal  strength,  the  world,  under  the  name,  policy, 
seems  to  have  granted  them  a  very  liberal  indulgence  of 
craft  and  dissimulation.  Yet  the  arts  of  Severus 
cannot  be  justified  by  the  most  ample  privileges  of  state 
reason.  He  promised  only  to  betray,  he  nattered  only 
to  ruin  and  however  he  might  occasionally  bind  himself 
by  oaths  and  treaties,  his  conscience,  obsequious  to  his 
interest,  always  released  him  from  the  inconvenient 
obligation.1 

If  his  two  competitors  reconciled  by  their  common 
danger  had  advanced  upon  him  without  delay,  perhaps 
Severus  would  have  sunk  under  their  united  effort. 
Had  they  even  attacked  him  at  the  same  time  with 
separate  views  and  separate  armies  the  contest  might 
have  been  long  and  doubtful.  But  they  fell  singly  and 
successively  an  easy  prey  to  the  arts  as  well  as  arms  of 
Severus,  of  the  subtle  enemy  lulled  into  security  by  the 
moderation  of  his  professions  and  overwhelmed  by  the 
rapidity  of  his  action.  He  first  marched  against  Niger 
whose  reputation  and  power  he  most  dreaded  but  he 
declined  any  hostile  declaration,  suppressed  the  name 
of  his  antagonist  and  only  signified  to  the  senate  and  the 

1  Herodian  i.  p.  85. 


84  CARLISLE 

people  his  intention  of  regulating  the  eastern  provinces. 
In  private,  he  spoke  of  Niger,  his  old  friend,  an  intended 
successor  with  the  most  affectionate  regard  and  highly 
applauded  his  generous  design  of  revenging  the  murder 
of  Pertinax.  To  punish  the  vile  usurper  of  the  throne 
was  the  duty  of  every  Roman  general.  To  persevere  in 
arms  and  to  resist  a  lawful  emperor  acknowledged  by 
the  senate  would  alone  render  him  criminal.1 

The  sons  of  Niger  had  fallen  into  his  hands  among  the 
children  of  the  provincial  governors,  detained  at  Rome 
as  pledges  for  the  loyalty  of  their  parents.  As  long  as 
the  power  of  Niger  inspired  terror  or  even  respect  they 
were  educated  with  the  most  tender  care  with  the  chil- 
dren of  Severus  himself,  even  in  the  letter,  in  which  he 
announced  his  victory  over  Niger,  he  styles  Albinus,  the 
brother  of  his  soul  and  empire,  sends  him  the  affection- 
ate salutations  of  his  wife  Julia,  and  his  young  family 
and  intreats  him  to  preserve  the  armies  and  the  republic 
faithful  to  their  common  interest.  The  messengers 
charged  with  this  letter  were  instructed  to  accost  the 
Caesar  with  respect  to  desire  a  private  audience  and  to 
plunge  their  daggers  into  his  heart.  The  conspiracy  was 
discovered  and  the  too  credulous  Albinus  at  length 
passed  over  to  the  continent  and  prepared  for  an  unequal 
contest  with  his  rival  who  rushed  upon  him  at  the  head 
of  a  veteran  and  victorious  army. 

The  military  labors  of  Severus  seem  inadequate  to 
the  importance  of  his  conquests.  Two  engagements, 
the  one  near  the  Hellespont,  the  other  in  the  narrow 
defiles  of  Cilicia  decided  the  fate  of  his  Syrian  competi- 
tor; and  the  troops  of  Europe  asserted  their  usual 

i  Hist.  August,  p.  65. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  85 

ascendant  over  the  effeminate  natives  of  Asia.  The 
battle  of  Lyons  where  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
(Dion  i.  LXXV,  p.  1260)  Romans  were  engaged  was 
equally  fatal  to  Albinus.  The  valor  of  the  British  army 
maintained  a  sharp  and  doubtful  contest  with  the  hardy 
discipline  of  the  Illyrian  legions.  The  fame  and  person 
of  Severus  appeared  during  a  few  moments  irrecoverably 
lost  till  that  war-like  prince  rallied  his  fainting  troops 
and  led  them  on  to  a  decisive  victory.  The  war  was 
finished  by  that  memorable  day. 

Both  Niger  and  Albinus  were  discovered  and  put  to 
death  in  their  flight  from  the  field  of  battle.  Their 
fate  excited  neither  surprise  nor  compassion.  They 
had  staked  their  lives  against  the  chance  of  empire  and 
suffered  what  they  would  have  inflicted;  nor  did  Severus 
claim  the  arrogant  superiority  of  suffering  his  rivals  to 
live  in  a  private  station.  But  his  unforgiving  temper 
stimulated  by  avarice  indulged  a  spirit  of  revenge 
where  there  was  no  room  for  apprehension.  The  most 
considerable  of  the  provincials,  who  without  any  dis- 
like to  the  fortunate  candidate,  had  obeyed  the  governor 
under  whose  authority  they  were  accidentally  placed, 
were  punished  by  death,  exile  and  especially  by  the 
confiscation  of  their  estates.  Many  cities  of  the  east 
were  stript  of  their  ancient  honors  and  obliged  to  pay 
into  the  treasury  of  Severus,  four  times  the  amount  of 
the  sums  contributed  by  them  for  the  service  of  Niger.1 

Till  the  final  decision  of  the  war  the  cruelty  of  Severus 
was  in  some  measure  restrained  by  the  uncertainty  of 
the  event,  and  his  pretended  reverence  for  the  senate. 
The  head  of  Albinus  accompanied  with  a  menacing 

»  Dion.  i.  XXTV.  p.  1250. 


86  CARLISLE 

letter,  announced  to  the  Romans,  that  he  was  resolved 
to  spare  none  of  the  adherents  of  his  unfortunate  com- 
petitors. He  was  irritated  by  the  just  suspicion  that 
he  had  never  possessed  the  affection  of  the  senate  and  he 
concealed  his  old  malevolence  under  the  discovery  of 
some  treasonable  correspondences.  Thirty-five  senators, 
however,  accused  of  having  favored  the  party  of  Albinus, 
he  freely  pardoned;  and,  by  his  subsequent  behavior 
endeavored  to  convince  them,  that  he  had  forgotten  as 
well  as  forgiven  their  supposed  offences.  But  at  the 
same  time  he  condemned  forty-one  other  senators  whose 
names  history  has  recorded;  their  wives,  children  and 
clients  attended  them  in  death  and  the  noblest  pro- 
vincials of  Spain  and  Gaul  were  involved  in  the  same 
ruin. 

Such  rigid  justice,  for  so  he  termed  it,  was  in  the 
opinion  of  Severus,  the  only  conduct  capable  of  insuring 
peace  to  the  people  or  stability  to  the  prince;  and  he 
condescended  slightly  to  lament  that  to  be  mild,  it  was 
necessary  that  he  should  first  be  cruel  (Aurelins  Victor). 
The  true  interest  of  an  absolute  monarch  generally 
coincides  with  that  of  his  people.  Their  numbers,  their 
wealth,  their  order  and  their  security,  are  the  best  and 
only  foundations  of  his  royal  greatness;  and  were  he 
totally  devoid  of  virtue,  prudence  might  supply  its  place 
and  would  dictate  the  same  rule  of  conduct.  Severus 
considered  the  Roman  empire  as  his  property  and  had 
no  sooner  secured  possession  of  it,  than  he  bestowed  his 
care,  on  the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  so  valuable 
an  acquisition.  Salutary  laws,  executed  with  inflexible 
firmness  soon  corrected  most  of  the  abuses  with  which 
since  the  death  of  Marcus,  every  part  of  the  govern- 
ment had  been  infected.  In  the  administration  of 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  87 

justice,  the  judgments  of  the  emperor  were  characterized 
by  attention,  discernment,  and  impartiality;  and  when- 
ever he  deviated  from  the  strict  line  of  equity  it  was 
generally  in  favor  of  the  poor  and  oppressed;  not  so 
much  indeed  from  a  sense  of  humanity  as  from  the 
natural  propensity  of  a  despot  to  humble  the  pride  of  the 
rich  and  to  sink  all  his  subjects  to  the  same  common 
level  of  absolute  dependence.  His  expensive  taste  for 
building  and  magnificent  shows,  and  above  all  a  constant 
and  liberal  distribution  of  corn  and  provisions,  were 
the  surest  means  of  captivating  the  affection  of  the 
Roman  people.  The  misfortunes  of  civil  discord  were 
obliterated.  The  calm  of  peace  and  prosperity  was  once 
more  experienced  in  the  provinces,  and  many  cities 
restored  by  the  munificence  of  Severus  assumed  the 
title  of  his  colonies,  and  attested  by  public  monuments 
their  gratitude  and  felicity. 

The  fame  of  the  Roman  arms  was  revived  by  that 
warlike  emperor  and  he  boasted  with  a  just  pride  that 
having  received  the  empire  oppressed  with  foreign  and 
domestic  wars,  he  left  it  established  in  profound  universal 
and  honorable  peace. 

Although  the  wounds  of  civil  war  appeared  completely 
healed,  its  mortal  poison  still  lurked  in  the  vitals  of  the 
constitution.  Severus  possessed  a  considerable  share  of 
vigor  and  ability;  but  the  daring  soul  of  the  first  Caesar, 
or  the  deep  policy  of  Augustus,  were  scarcely  equal  to 
the  task  of  curbing  the  insolence  of  the  victorious  legions. 
By  gratitude,  by  misguided  policy,  by  seeming  necessity, 
Severus  was  induced  to  relax  the  nerves  of  discipline.1 
The  vanity  of  his  soldiers  was  flattered  with  honor  of  wear- 
ing gold  rings;  their  ease  was  indulged  in  the  permission 

1  Herodian  i.  Ill,  p.  115.     Hist.  August,  p.  68. 


88  CARLISLE 

of  living  with  their  wives  in  the  idleness  of  quarters. 
He  increased  their  pay  beyond  the  example  of  former 
times  and  taught  to  expect  and  soon  to  claim  extraordi- 
nary donations  on  every  public  occasion  of  danger  or 
festivity.  Elated  by  success,  enervated  by  luxury,  and 
raised  above  the  level  of  subjects  by  their  dangerous  priv- 
ileges they  soon  became  incapable  of  military  fatigue, 
oppressive  to  the  country,  and  impatient  of  a  just  sub- 
ordination. Their  officers  asserted  the  superiority  of 
rank  by  a  more  profuse  and  elegant  luxury. 

There  is  still  extant  a  letter  of  Severus  lamenting  the 
licentious  state  of  the  army  and  exhorting  one  of  his 
generals  to  begin  the  necessary  reformation,  from  the 
tribunes  themselves;  since  he  justly  observes  the  officer 
who  has  forfeited  the  esteem,  will  never  command  the 
obedience  of  his  soldiers.1 

Had  the  emperor  pursued  the  train  of  reflection  he 
would  have  discovered  that  the  primary  cause  of  this 
general  corruption  might  be  ascribed  not  indeed  to  the 
example  but  to  the  pernicious  indulgence,  however,  of 
the  commander-in-chief. 

The  Praetorians  who  murdered  their  emperor  and  sold 
the  empire  had  received  the  just  punishment  of  their 
treason;  but  the  necessary  though  dangerous  institu- 
tion of  guards  was  soon  restored  on  a  new  model  by 
Severus  and  increased  to  four  times  the  ancient  numbers.2 

Formerly  these  troops  had  recruited  in  Italy;  and  as 
the  adjacent  provinces  gradually  imbibed  the  softer 
manners  of  Rome,  the  levies  were  extended  to  Macedonia, 


i  Hist.  August,  p.  73. 
s  Herodian  i.  Ill,  p. 


131. 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  89 

Noricum,  and  Spain.  In  the  room  of  these  elegant 
troops,  better  adapted  to  the  pomp  of  courts  than  to  the 
uses  of  war,  it  was  established  by  Severus  that  from  all 
the  legions  of  the  frontiers,  the  soldiers  most  distinguished 
for  strength,  valor,  and  fidelity  should  be  occasionally 
draughted  and  promoted,  as  an  honor  and  reward,  into 
the  more  eligible  service  of  the  guards.  Dion.  i.  XXV, 
p.  1243.  By  this  new  institution,  the  Italian  youths 
were  diverted  from  the  exercise  of  arms  and  the  capital 
was  terrified  by  the  strange  aspect  and  manners  of  a 
multitude  of  barbarians.  But  Severus  flattered  him- 
self that  the  legions  would  consider  these  chosen  Prae- 
torians as  the  representatives  of  the  whole  military 
order;  and  that  the  present  aid  of  fifty  thousand  men, 
superior  in  arms  and  appointments  to  any  force  that 
could  be  brought  into  the  field  against  them  would  for- 
ever crush  the  hopes  of  rebellion,  and  secure  the  empire 
to  himself  and  his  posterity. 

The  command  of  these  favored  and  formidable  troops 
became  the  first  office  of  the  empire.  As  the  govern- 
ment degenerated  into  military  despotism,  the  Praetor- 
ian Praefect,  who  in  his  origin  had  been  a  simple  captain 
of  the  guards,  was  placed  not  only  at  the  head  of  the 
army,  but  of  the  finances  and  even  of  the  law.  In  every 
department  of  administration  he  represented  the  person 
and  exercised  the  authority  of  the  emperor.  The  first 
Praefect  who  enjoyed  and  abused  this  immense  power 
was  Plantianus,  the  favorite  minister  of  Severus.  His 
reign  lasted  about  ten  years,  till  the  marriage  of  his 
daughter  with  the  eldest  son  of  the  emperor,  which 
seemed  to  assure  his  fortune,  proved  the  occasion  of  his 
ruin.  The  animosities  of  the  palace  by  irritating  the 
ambition  and  alarming  the  fears  of  Plantianus  threat- 


90  CARLISLE 

ened  to  produce  a  revolution  and  obliged  the  emperor 
who  still  loved  him  to  consent  with  reluctance  to  his 
death.  After  the  fall  of  Plantianusan,  eminent  lawyer, 
Paupinian  was  appointed  to  execute  the  motley  office 
of  Praetorian  Praefect. 

Till  the  reign  of  Severus  the  virtue  and  even  the  good 
sense  of  the  emperors  had  been  distinguished  by  their 
zeal  or  affected  reverence  for  the  senate  and  by  a  tender 
regard  to  the  nice  frame  of  civil  policy  instituted  by 
Augustus.  But  the  youth  of  Severus  had  been  trained 
in  the  implicit  obedience  of  camps  and  his  riper  years, 
spent  in  the  despotism  of  military  commands. 

His  haughty  and  inflexible  spirit  could  not  discover 
or  would  not  acknowledge,  the  advantage  of  preserving 
an  immediate  power,  however  imaginary  between  the 
emperor  and  the  army.  He  disdained  to  profess  himself 
the  servant  of  an  assembly  that  detested  his  person  and 
trembled  at  his  frown.  He  issued  his  commands,  where 
his  request  would  have  proved  as  effectual,  assumed  the 
conduct  and  style  of  a  sovereign  and  conqueror  and 
exercised  without  disguise  the  whole  legislative,  as  well 
as  executive  power.  The  victory  over  the  senate  was 
easy  and  inglorious.  Every  eye  and  every  passion  were 
directed  to  the  supreme  magistrate,  who  possessed  the 
arms  and  treasure  of  the  state;  whilst  the  senate  neither 
elected  by  the  people  nor  guarded  by  military  force, 
nor  animated  by  public  spirit  rested  its  declining  author- 
ity on  the  frail  and  crumbling  basis  of  ancient  opinion. 
The  fine  theory  of  a  republic  insensibly  vanished  and 
made  way  for  the  more  natural  and  substantial  feelings 
of  monarchy.  As  the  freedom  and  honors  of  Rome  were 
successively  communicated  to  the  provinces  in  which 
the  old  government  had  been  either  unknown  or  remem- 


THE    ANCIENT    NEGRO  91 

bered  with  abhorrence,  the  tradition  of  republican  max- 
ims was  gradually  obliterated. 

The  Greek  historians  of  the  age  of  the  Automines 
observe  with  a  malicious  pleasure,  that  although  the 
sovereign  of  Rome  in  compliance  with  an  obsolete  preju- 
dice abstained  from  the  name  of  king,  he  possessed  the 
full  measure  of  regal  power. 

In  the  reign  of  Severus  the  senate  was  filled  with 
polished  and  eloquent  slaves  from  the  Eastern  provinces 
who  justified  personal  flattery  by  speculative  principles 
of  servitude.  These  new  advocates  of  prerogative  were 
heard  with  pleasure  by  the  court  and  with  patience  by 
the  people,  when  they  inculcated  passive  obedience  and 
descanted  on  the  inevitable  mischiefs  of  freedom. 

The  lawyers  and  historians  concurred  in  teaching 
that  the  imperial  authority  was  held  not  by  the  delegated 
commission  but  by  the  irrevocable  resignation  of  the 
senate;  that  the  emperor  was  freed  from  the  restraint 
of  civil  laws,  could  command  by  his  arbitrary  will  the 
lives  and  fortunes  of  his  subjects  and  might  dispose  of 
the  empire  as  of  his  private  patrimony.  The  most 
eminent  of  the  civil  lawyers,  and  particularly  Paupinian, 
Paulus,  and  Illpian  flourished  under  the  house  of  Severus; 
and  the  Roman  jurisprudence  having  closely  united 
itself  with  the  system  of  monarchy  was  supposed  to 
have  attained  its  full  maturity  and  prerogative.  The 
contemporaries  of  Severus  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace 
and  glory  of  his  reign,  forgave  the  cruelties  by  which  it 
had  been  introduced.  Posterity  who  experienced  the 
fatal  effects  of  the  maxims  and  example  justly  considered 
him  as  the  principal  author  of  the  decline  of  the  Roman 
empire. 

The  ascent  to  greatness,  however  steep  and  dangerous, 


Q2  CARLISLE 

may  entertain  an  active  spirit  with  the  consciousness 
and  exercise  of  its  own  powers;  but  the  possession  of  a 
throne  could  never  yet  afford  a  lasting  satisfaction  to 
an  ambitious  mind.  This  melancholy  truth  was  felt 
and  acknowledged  by  Severus.  Fortune  and  merit  had 
from  a  humble  station  elevated  him  to  the  first  of  mankind. 
"  He  had  been  all  things  as  he  said  himself  and  all  was 
of  little  value."1 

"  Omnia  fin  et  nihil  expedit. "  Oppressed  with  age  and 
infirmities,  careless  of  fame  distracted  with  the  care, 
not  of  acquiring  but  preserving  an  empire  (Dion.  Cas- 
sins  i.  LXXVI,  p.  1284),  and  satiated  with  power,  all 
his  prospects  of  life  were  closed.  The  desire  of  per- 
petuating the  greatness  of  his  family  was  the  only  re- 
maining wish  of  his  ambition  and  paternal  tenderness. 
Like  most  of  the  Africans  Severus  was  passionately 
addicted  to  the  vain  studies  of  magic  and  devination, 
deeply  versed  in  the  interpretation  of  dreams  and 
omens,  and  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  science  of 
judicial  astrology;  which  in  almost  every  age  except 
the  present  has  maintained  its  dominion  over  the  mind 
of  man. 

He  had  lost  his  first  wife,  whilst  he  was  governor 
of  Lionnese  Gaul.  In  the  choice  of  a  second,  he  sought 
only  to  connect  himself  with  some  favorite  of  fortune; 
and  as  soon  as  he  discovered  that  a  young  lady  of 
Enusa  in  Syria  had  a  royal  nativity  he  solicited  and 
obtained  her  hand  (Hist.  August,  p.  65).  Julia  Domna, 
for  that  was  her  name,  deserved  all  that  the  stars  could 
promise  her/  She  possessed  even  in  advanced  age 
the  attractions  of  beauty  (Hist.  August,  p.  85)  and 

i  Hist.  August,  p.  71. 


THE    ANCIENT   NEGRO  93 

united  to  a  lively  imagination,  a  firmness  of  mind  and 
strength  of  judgment  seldom  bestowed  on  her  sex. 
Her  amiable  qualities  never  made  any  deep  impression 
on  the  dark  and  jealous  temper  of  her  husband;  but 
in  her  son's  reign,  she  administered  the  principal  affairs 
of  the  empire  with  a  prudence  that  supported  his  author- 
ity; and  with  a  moderation  that  sometimes  corrected 
his  wild  extravagances.  (Dion.  Cassins  i.  LXXVIL 
p.  13,  14.)  Julia  applied  herself  to  letters  and  philos- 
ophy with  some  success  and  with  the  most  splendid 
reputation.  She  was  the  patroness  of  every  art  and  the 
friend  of  every  man  of  genius.  The  grateful  flattery  of 
the  learned  has  celebrated  her  virtue;  but,  if  we  may 
credit  the  scandal  of  ancient  history,  chastity  was  very 
far  from  being  her  most  conspicuous  virtue.1 

Two  sons  Caracalla  and  Geta  were  the  fruit  of  this 
marriage  and  the  destined  heirs  of  the  empire.  The 
fond  hopes  of  the  father  and  the  Roman  world,  were 
soon  disappointed  by  these  vain  youths,  who  displayed 
the  indolent  security  of  hereditary  princes;  and  a 
presumption  that  fortune  would  supply  the  place  of 
merit  and  application.  Without  any  emulation  or 
virtue  or  talents,  they  discovered  almost  from  their 
infancy  a  fixed  and  implacable  antipathy  for  each  other. 
Their  aversion  confirmed  by  years  and  fomented  by  the 
arts  of  their  interested  favorites  broke  out  in  childish 
and  gradually  in  more  serious  competition;  and  at 
length  divided  the  theatre,  the  circus  and  the  court  into 
two  factions  actuated  by  the  hopes  and  fears  of  their 
respective  leaders.  The  prudent  emperor  endeavored 
by  every  expedient  of  advice  and  authority  to  allay 

»  Dion.  i.  LXXVI.  p.  1283  Aurelius  Victor. 


04  CARLISLE 

this  growing  animosity.  The  unhappy  discord  of  his 
sons  clouded  all  his  prospects  and  threatened  to  over- 
turn a  throne  raised  with  so  much  labor  and  cemented 
with  so  much  blood  and  guarded  with  every  defence  of 
of  arms  and  treasure.  With  an  impartial  hand  he 
maintained  between  them  the  exact  balance  of  favor 
conferred  on  both  the  rank  of  Augustus  with  the  revered 
name  of  Antonius;  and  for  the  first  time  the  Roman 
world  beheld  three  emperors.  Yet  even  this  equal 
conduct  served  only  to  inflame  the  contest.  Whilst 
the  fierce  Caracalla  asserted  the  right  of  primogeniture, 
the  milder  Geta  courted  the  affections  of  the  people 
and  the  soldiers.  In  the  anguish  of  a  disappointed 
father  Serverus  foretold  that  the  weaker  of  his  sons  would 
fall  a  sacrifice  to  the  stronger;  who  in  his  turn  would 
be  ruined  by  his  own  vices. 

In  these  circumstances  the  intelligence  of  a  war  in 
Britain  and  of  an  invasion  (A.  D.  208)  of  the  province 
by  the  barbarians  of  the  North  was  received  with  pleas- 
ure by  Severus.  Though  the  vigilance  of  his  lieutenants 
might  have  been  sufficient  to  repel  the  distant  enemy, 
he  resolved  to  embrace  the  honorable  pretext  of  with- 
drawing his  sons  from  the  luxury  of  Rome  which  ener- 
vated their  minds  and  irritated  their  passions  and  of 
inuring  their  youth  to  the  toils  of  war  and  government. 
Notwithstanding  his  advanced  age,  for  he  was  above 
three  score,  and  his  gout  which  obliged  him  to  be  carried 
in  a  litter,  he  transported  himself  in  person  into  that 
remote  island  attended  by  his  two  sons,  his  whole  court 
and  a  formidable  army.  He  immediately  passed  the 
walls  of  Hadrian  and  Antonius  and  entered  the  enemy's 
country  with  a  design  of  completing  the  long  attempted 
conquest  of  Britain.  He  penetrated  to  the  northern 


THE   ANCIENT    NEGRO  95 

extremity  of  the  island  without  meeting  an  enemy. 
But  the  concealed  ambuscades  of  the  Caledonians  who 
hung  unseen  on  the  rear  and  flanks  of  his  army,  the 
coldness  of  the  climate  and  the  severity  of  a  winter 
march  across  the  hills  and  morasses  of  Scotland  are 
reported  to  have  cost  the  Romans  above  fifty  thousand 
men.  The  Caledonians  at  length  yielded  to  the  powerful 
and  obstinate  attack,  sued  for  peace,  and  surrendered  a 
part  of  their  arms  and  a  large  tract  of  territory. 

But  their  apparent  submission  lasted  no  longer  than 
their  present  terror.  As  soon  as  the  Roman  legions  had 
retired  they  resumed  their  hostile  independence.  Their 
restless  spirit  provoked  Severus  to  send  a  new  army  into 
Caledonia  with  the  most  bloody  orders,  not  to  subdue 
but  to  extirpate  the  natives.  They  were  saved  by  the 
death  of  their  haughty  enemy.1 

The  Caledonian  war,  neither  marked  by  decisive 
events  nor  attended  with  any  important  consequences, 
would  ill  deserve  our  attention;  but  it  is  supposed  not 
without  a  considerable  degree  of  probability  that  the 
invasion  of  Severus  is  connected  with  the  most  shining 
period  of  the  British  history  of  fable. 

The  declining  health  and  last  illness  of  Severus 
inflamed  the  wild  amibtion  and  black  passions  of  Cara- 
callas's  soul.  Impatient  of  any  delay  or  division  of 
empire  he  attempted  more  than  once  to  shorten  the 
small  remainder  of  his  father's  days,  and  endeavored 
but  without  success  to  excite  a  mutiny  among  the 
troops.2 

The  old  emperor  had  often  censured  the  misguided 
leniency  of  Marcus,  who  by  a  single  act  of  justice  might 

>  Dion.  i.  XXVI,  p.  1280  Herodian,  i.  Ill,  p.  132  etc. 

»  Dion.  i.  XXVI,  p.  1282,  Hist.  August,  p.  71,  Aurelius  Victor. 


g  6  CARLISLE 

have  saved  the  Romans  from  the  tyranny  of  his  worthless 
sons.  Placed  in  the  same  situation,  he  experienced  how 
easily  the  rigour  of  a  judge  dissolves  away  in  the  tender- 
ness of  a  father.  He  deliberated,  he  threatened,  but  he 
could  not  punish;  and  this  last  and  only  instance  of 
mercy  was  more  fatal  to  the  empire  than  a  long  series  of 
cruelty.1 

The  disorder  of  his  mind  irritated  the  pains  of  his  body; 
he  wished  impatiently  for  death  and  hastened  the 
instant  of  it  by  his  impatience.  He  expired  A.  D.  211, 
Feb.  4  at  York  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  life  and  the 
eighteenth  of  a  glorious  and  successful  reign. 

CARACALLA,  ROMAN  EMPEROR  211-17  A.  D. 

Caracalla,  eldest  son  of  Septimus  Severus,  was  born 
at  Lyons  188  A.  D.  He  was  originally  named  Bassianus 
from  his  maternal  grandfather,  but  his  legal  name  as  it 
appears  on  medals  and  inscriptions  was  M.  Aurelius 
Antonius.  He  was  nicknamed  Caracalla  from  the  long 
hooded  tunic  which  he  wore  after  the  fashion  and  in  the 
language  of  the  Gauls.  He  ascended  the  throne  as 
co-regent  with  his  brother  Publius  Septimus  Antonius 
Geta  whom  he  afterwards  murdered  in  his  mother's 
arms.  His  reign  was  a  long  train  of  cruelties.  He  put 
to  death  all  the  friends  and  adherents  of  Geta  among 
them  the  eminent  jurist,  Papinianus.  He  resorted  to 
every  possible  means  to  maintain  his  extravagances 
and  to  pay  his  soldiers.  In  his  famous  constitution  he 
bestowed  Roman  citizenship  on  all  his  free  subjects  not 
citizens  who  formed  the  majority,  especially  in  the 

i  Dion  i.  XXVI,  p.  1283.     Hist.  August,  p.  89. 


THE    ANCIENT   NEGRO  97 

provinces  but  simply  in  order  to  levy  a  greater  amount 
of  taxes  on  releases  and  heritages,  which  were  paid 
only  by  citizens.  After  almost  exhausting  Italy  by  his 
extortions  his  arts  of  oppression  were  directed  against 
the  provinces  which  had  been  in  a  great  measure  spared 
by  former  emperors.  In  214  he  visited  Gaul,  Germany, 
Dacia  and  Thrace,  and  after  a  campaign  against  the 
Alemanui  assumed  the  surname  of  Alemanuicus.  He  was 
assassinated  at  the  instigation  of  Macrinus,  prefect  of  the 
Praetorians,  by  one  of  his  veterans  named  Martialis  on  the 
8th  of  April,  2 17,  on  the  way  from  Edessa  to  Carrhae. 

A  people  without  history,  a  country,  or  a  flag  would 
be  a  most  extraordinary  circumstance  yet  owing  to 
misplaced  facts  it  is  in  this  light  the  Negro  is  regarded. 
The  day  has  come,  however,  for  a  fixed  Negro  status  and 
this  must  necessarily  be  based  upon  ancestry. 

Ambitions  and  aspirations  are  inspired  largely  by  pride 
in  our  ancestors.  Owing  to  a  lack  of  knowledge  or 
source  of  information  easily  accessible  we  have  remained 
in  ignorance  to  a  great  extent  of  the  history  of  Negro  peo- 
ples. The  average  school  history  contains  little  or  noth- 
ing, leaving  the  Negro  youth  in  the  darkness  of  despair 

To-day  things  are  assuming  a  new  aspect  and  in  order 
to  meet  the  new  issues  we  must  needs  have  an  enlarged 
vision.  The  narrow  confines  which  have  so  long  held 
us  have  been  outgrown. 

Descendants  of  kings  and  princes  and  illustrious 
personages  we  have  been  denied  the  smallest  item  of 
of  their  achievements,  reciting  ever  and  anon  the  glories 
of  other  races,  yet  always  craving  tangible  assurance  of 
our  own  origin.  If  this  little  volume  of  sketches  tends 
in  any  way  to  allay  this  longing  we  shall  feel  well  paid 
for  our  effort. 

FINIS 


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